Member of Parliament for Ketu South Constituency, Fifi Kwetey has described comments by President Akufo-Addo that he is oblivious to any act of intimidation against some Ewes at voter registration centres in the country as unfortunate and indicate how dishonest he is.
The MP was reacting to President Akufo-Addo’s statements which suggested that, he is unaware of any form of intimidation at any registration centre in the country. The President made these comments when he addressed worshippers at the Kumasi Central Mosque last Friday.
“I haven’t heard someone wants to register and would be told he is not this or he is not that so he should go. Everyone has the chance to register. I have heard that, here at Asawase and Asokore Mampong, it ongoing as expected.”
President Akufo-Addo
However, according to Mr Kwetey, the President’s comments and actions indicate how dishonest and desperate the incumbent is about clinching on to power.
“I’m not surprised at all. I mean… If you know exactly the history of Nana Akufo Addo, you will know that even in 2008 when, for example things were becoming hot for him, people in his party were even making plans to even come and put dead bodies in the water bodies in the Volta Region. So there’s already a long history that, whenever he is desperate for power, the first group of people that he thinks about, in terms of attacking are the people who come from the Volta Region, which is totally unfortunate. So for him to be denying, for me, is just letting the world know that not only are we dealing with people who are desperate for power, but they also don’t even have the honesty to accept wrong things in other for them to correct the wrong things they are doing.”
Videos depicting the prevention of some people from registering at some registeration centres across the country surfaced on social media during the weekend. As expected, this caused a frenzy on many media platforms.
Ace investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure-Awuni commenting on the incident wrote that,
“President Nana Akufo-Addo, this is not the change we voted for in 2016. This is one of the most disheartening videos I’ve watched. Your MCE is harassing people queuing to register in Ketu South by inspecting their ID cards and passing comments. And here are soldiers in Banda. Who sent them there? Even if it is an issue about citizenship, are soldiers those to be sent to registration centres?”
A senior Journalist and immediate past Communication Director of the Ghana Gas Company Limited, Alfred Ogbamey also claimed in an article that, some government functionaries have been harassing some local communities known to be sympathetic to the NDC.
“Around Bui, an indigenous Ewe community that has lived in the community for decades woke up during the Voters’ Registration exercise to have their abodes (apatas, etc;) destroyed in the name of the Bui Dam Authority with bulldozers for allegedly posing an unspecified danger to the Dam’s activity.
“In Tema, an area known as an NDC base because of the dominant Ewe population, had kiosks and other abodes demolished.”
The National Democratic Congress’ General Secretary, Mr Asiedu Nketia, this morning, went to Banda Ahenkroh in the Bono Region when concerns erupted on social media and traditional media that some people were being denied from registering by soldiers.
In a viral video on social media, the General Secretary of the NDC has been seen complaining about the presence of the military in the town and arguing that soldiers are not supposed to be part of the registration process.
However, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has justified why it deplored military personnel to the area for the last round of the voters registration exercise.
According to the GAF, the soldiers were deployed only after the Bono Regional Security Council (REGSEC) made a request for them.
The GAF said this was because, the two leading political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) were transporting people in their numbers to register and that had earlier resulted in a clash which led to the death of one person.
