The Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, Collins Dauda, has been arrested by the Police.
The Legislator was apprehended for his alleged involvement in the disorders that occurred at Kukuom, in the Ahafo Region, during the ongoing Limited Voter Registration Exercise on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
A press statement by the Ghana Police on Sunday, May 12, 2024 announcing the arrest of the Asunafo South MP, Collins Dauda, also said other suspects were being pursued.
According to the police, one person sustained an injury and was, at the time of the release of the statement, receiving treatment at the hospital.
DISTURBANCE
In a related development, The Chronicle’s Richard Owusu-Akyaw reports that the voter registration proceedings in Ahafo-Ano Southeast District of the Ashanti region became chaotic after armed machomen invaded the area and disrupted the process.
He also reported that the armed men wielding guns, machetes and other offensive weapons ran riot, maiming four people.
The Ahafo-Ano Southeast constituency organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Adams Ababio, confirmed the incident to The Chronicle.
He narrated to this paper that at about 14:30 hrs GMT on Saturday, May 11, 2024 the Parliamentary Candidate (PC) for the NPP, Fredreick Acheampong, better known as Achee, drove to the registration centre at Adugyama, allegedly to get some youth registered for voters’ ID cards, but he was prevented by representatives of other political parties.
According to Adams, when the youth were asked where they live, they could not answer; hence, the party agents prevented them from registering, a development that resulted in an argument, so the PC drove off.
Adams continued that later, while the process was going on, about 15 machomen stormed the centre and attacked those who prevented the NPP PC from registering the people he brought.
The chaotic spectacle resulted in machete wounds inflicted on four people, who were rushed to Mankranso government hospital.
This paper was told that the eight police officers present could only protect the EC staff and registrants, adding that no arrest had been made at the time of the interview with The Chronicle.
Though the NDC’s Adams accused NPP’s Achee of being the brain behind the attack, the latter has denied it.
REACTION
Reacting to the allegation, Achee disclosed that on Saturday morning, he went to the registration centre at Adugyama with his nieces and some boys that he lives with in Kumasi to register to vote.
According to Achee, the people he sent hail from Mentukwa, a community that is closer to Ahwerewam, his hometown, but due to schooling, they are mostly in Kumasi.
He continued that upon reaching the centre, the NDC officers prevented them from registering.
“They did not only challenge their registration butthey physically assaulted the young prospective voters, who have attained eighteen years, by pulling them out of the queue and preventing them from entering the perimeter, where registration is carried out.”
The NPP PC disclosed to this reporter that the NDC initially attacked his research officer, so he discontinued the registration.
“When they got out of the car, they (NDC) prevented them, but I told them that is not the electoral law.
“Per the electoral laws, if you doubt the registration of someone, you can only challenge, but they were fighting with us.”
Achee explained that the situation got so intense that the chief of Adugyama had to inform the EC about what was happening, and the EC invited the parties and urged them to explain the rules to their agents at the centre.
INTERDICTION
Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service, in a separate statement yesterday, said it had interdicted three of its personnel with immediate effect, over their failure to perform their duty professionally in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
The police named the affected men as Inspector Michael Addo, G/CONST. Eric Boakye and G/CONST. Michael Gyan.
The release said these men, on May 11, 2024 failed to perform in a proper manner, a duty imposed on them as officers in charge of security at the Electoral Commission Office at Adugyama, in the Ashanti region, when some persons attempted to disrupt the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
“The interdicted personnel will be taken through the due disciplinary process of the Police Service,” the police stated.
By Maxwell Ofori & Richard Owusu-Akyaw
