More gunshots at registration centres after Hawa Koomson incident - NDC proves

More gunshots are being recorded at various registration centres after the Minister for Special Initiatives, Madam Hawa Koomson, fired same three weeks ago at a registration center in the Awutu Senya East Constituency.

The latest gunshot, which was recorded and captured on video was in Kpena ,a town in the Oti region where a gun was fired by National Security elements to ward off registrants suspected to be foreigners.

At a press conference yesterday to provide evidence of military intimidation and prevention of prospective applicants from acquiring the voter identification card, the National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi, expressed disgust at the incident.

He said, the inability of the government to punish Hawa Koomson when she brandish and openly confessed to firing the shot at the ongoing voter registration in the Awutu Senya East Constituency, gave the audacity to any other gun wielding person to fire shots at other registration centers .

According to him, the gunshots is just one side of the intimidation that has been sanctioned by President Akufo-Addo, who sits as the Chairman of the National Security Council and Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces.

In addition, however, applicants who have been suspected without basis to be Ghanaians of Ewe descent, are being brutalized and harassed, he noted.

Mr Gyamfi, who showed videos to buttress the claims of military brutality and harassment, called on the President to withdraw these soldiers and Immigration officers who are dotted across the country to intimidate registrants in areas known to be the strongholds of the NDC.

He said, these soldiers do not have the power to prevent anyone from registering when there are laid down rules as to who should not be allowed to register.

Challenge forms, he noted have been provided at the registration centers to question the eligibility and not through physically preventing them.

With the evidence, he described the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, as a liar who claimed there were no such military brutality and harassment, while asking for the evidence.

The National Communication Officer, also lashed at the President, for claiming at a function in Asawase that he was unaware of any such intimidation at the registration centers, noting that the exercise was rather going on smoothly.

The video evidence of the brutality are captured in separate places. These are Banda Ahenkro in the Bono region, the Ahafo Ano North Constituency in the Ahafo region , Sekyere Afram Plains and in the Ketu Southdistrict in the Volta region.

Other places he showed with video evidence were at Asuogyaman Constituency and the Atiwa East of the Eastern region, where military deployment were seen molesting prospective registrants.

The Communication Officer, warned the military and national security operatives to be aware of being punished in the long run, when power changes, stressing that those actions are unlawful.