Government has served notice that it would investigate alleged intimations by military personnel at some registration centres in the ongoing voters’ registration Exercise.
In an interview on Joynews TV monitored by dreamzfmonline.com on, Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said government has sighted videos of alleged intimidations by military officials at some registration centers in Banda and would thoroughly investigate the matter to ascertain the veracity of the allegations.
This comes at the back of a video circulating on social media in which the General Secretary of the NDC is seen in a confrontation with some military personnel who are said to have been deployed to NDC strongholds to intimidate potential voters from registering.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia is seen in the video arguing with the uniform men while telling someone over a phone call that “we have chanced on some of the security officials intimidating people and we have the videos.”
Bemoaning the presence of the men in uniform at the registration centre, Mr. Nketiah said “soldiers are not part of the voters’ registration process and so they have no business blocking legitimate registrants who will go to register.”
But speaking to host of the show Emefa Apaw, Mr. Nkrumah said “we sighted these videos of the General Secretary of the NDC appearing to be in some heated exchanges and on the phone with some persons. Ostensibly it got to do with the registration and access of a group of persons…… It’s a bit unclear but it is one of those things that need to be investigated so that we have clarity of what is transpiring, where it is taking place and the context in which it is happening.”
The Minister said personnel who would be found culpable through the investigations would be sanctioned. He also urged eligible persons to participate in the registration exercise while calling on the security personnel to conduct themselves professionally.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has raised concerns over alleged intimations by security personnel particularly the military at registration centres in its strongholds. Some members of the party have attributed the alleged intimidations to attempts by the Akuffo Addo administration to disenfranchise Ewes and non-Akans.
Recently, former president and flag bearer of the party, John Dramani Mahama accused president Akuffo Addo of using the military and party thugs to prevent Voltarians and non-Akans from registering for the voters identification card following the emergence of a similar video at a registration centre in Banda-henkro in which armed men in military uniform was seen interrogating prospective registrants and apparently preventing others from acquiring the voters ID card.
President Akuffo Addo has however said he is unware of such intimations at any registration centre.
