EC official drowns, materials missing

Mr. Gideon Kwarteng Yeboah, a-24-year-old National Serviceman teaching at Kwabre near Elubo in the Jomoro District engaged in the Biometric Registration Exercise in the Mepeasem area, has drowned in the Tano River.
The Jomoro District Police Commander, Superintendent John Fugerson Dzineku, told the GNA that the incident occurred when a passenger outboard motor boat in which he and some others were traveling capsized on Tuesday.
He said the EC officials were coming to the District Electoral Office at Half Assini to submit their returns on the registration on the third phase of the exercise when the accident occurred.
The area can be reached only by boat on the River Tano.
He said the boat, loaded with passengers and foodstuff, hit a rock in the river and split into two, forcing some to swim to safety, but Yeboah was unable to do so.
A search party has been organised by the people in the area to look for the body of Mr. Yeboah who hails from Bibiani in the Western Region.
The Jomoro District Electoral Officer, Mr. Kwabena Asante, told the Ghana News Agency that some of the registration materials, including registration forms, were missing.
Meanwhile, the Bibiani Circuit Court, on Wednesday, sentenced Tahiru Issifu to 18 months imprisonment for attempting to register twice in the ongoing biometric voter registration exercise.
Giving the facts of the case, DSP Raymond Kofi Erzuah told the court, presided over by Mr. Emmanuel Ankamah, that the convict first registered at Sefwi Fawokabra on March 27 this year.
He added that on April 24, the convict attempted registering for the second time at Sefwi Asantem, a different registration centre, but the vigilance of the electoral officer led to his arrest.
The prosecution said the convict pleaded guilty during interrogation, and was convicted on his own plea.
He was thus slapped with a sentence of 250 penalty units, the equivalent of GH¢3,000, or serve an 18-month prison term with hard labour, to serve as a deterrent. –GNA

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