There was tension in the Akatsi North District of the Volta Region after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) clashed over the location of a registration centre at the weekend.
According to sources, some thugs raided the Metrikasa Electoral Area to stop the Electoral Commission (EC) officials and the police from moving registration kits to Ete Kope, a community close to the Togo border.
This escalated into an open confrontation between members of the NDC and the NPP, with the latter accusing the EC and the police of siding with members of the governing party.
NPP Volta Regional Chairman, John Peter Amewu, said he was assaulted by some of the police officers when he attempted to take a picture of their vehicle, as proof of their “unacceptable behaviour.”
“A national police patrol team… drove into station and took the registration equipment, put them into their vehicle and drove towards the Republic of Togo on a rough road to a village close to Togo which is not part of the registration movement plan,” he stated.
He said he managed to use his vehicle to block theirs, and made sure they returned to the original registration centre.
“In Ghana a national patrol team cannot behave the way they are because where they were taking the vehicle to was close to Togo and the village in question was not part of the registration centres. Under no condition should a police vehicle drive to a centre and carry registration equipment. It is not allowed.”
“…and when I attempted to find out if they were real police men, they started mishandling me… they used the barrel of the gun against my left hand but I later lodged complaint at the central police office in Ho.”
But the Akatsi District Registration Supervisor of the EC, Peter Anku, told Citi News the allegations were unfounded, explaining that the EC was compelled to relocate to a new centre, following an invasion by some unidentified thugs.
According to Mr. Anku, the thugs invaded the registration centre at Metrikasa and severely brutalised members of the NDC monitoring team and also restricted residents in the area from coming to register.
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