THE BIOMETRIC registration at Taakofiano polling station in the Techiman Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region turned bloody when a group of National Democratic Congress (NDC) macho men, armed with machetes and guns, stormed the center and started slashing people who had queued to register.
At about 2pm on that fateful day, the macho men, numbering twenty, led by one Kwadwo Cocaine and the NDC Youth Organizer, Ibrahim, rushed to the center in seven cars loaded with thugs and started threatening those in the queue.
The seemingly drugged assailants asked the people to boycott the registration because the New Patriotic Party (NPP) wanted to use the biometric registration to rig the election. Whereas some people left the scene, die hard supporters of the NPP stayed in the queue.
Without any provocation whatsoever, the macho men attacked with machetes and other sharp objects. When DAILY GUIDE got to the scene, a victim of the assault, Kwadwo Sarfo, who was bathed in blood, was being treated by some good Samaritans.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the Techiman South Constituency Chairman, Peter Adom said what the NDC did was a recipe for disaster because they would not sit down for anyone to intimidate them again. He warned that if the police failed to take action as they used to do in previous attacks, the NPP would retaliate since that will be the language that will be understood by the NDC and the Ghana Police Service.
He recalled several instances when the police refused to take action because they were instructed by some powers from above not to make any arrest.
He accused the Presiding Member of the Techiman Municipal Assembly, who also doubles as the NDC parliamentary candidate, of supplying machetes to the macho men to cause mayhem.
In a related issue, the same macho men nearly lynched the driver of Professor Akumfi Ameyaw, Eugene Aidoo and his bodyguard, Kwabena Ameyaw.
The two had visited a polling station at Jama, a village near Techiman when the macho men pounced on them and subjected them to severe beatings. But for the quick intervention of some military personnel who were on patrol duty, the two would have been killed.
It will be recalled that two years ago, the former driver of Professor Ameyaw Akumfi was beaten to pulp at Buoya, a village near Ofuman in the Techiman North constituency. He died a few days later from wounds he sustained from the beating. The case was reported to the Techiman police but no arrest was made.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Professor Ameyaw Akumfi appealed to supporters of the NPP to stay calm in the face of the intimidation. He charged them to go out in their numbers to register so that they could exercise their franchise. According to the Techiman North Member of Parliament, the NDC members had sensed that they would lose the 2012 elections, hence the intimidation and wanton destruction of properties.
He warned that since no one would sit down to allow his fellow human being to harm him or her, if the NDC supporters continue to intimidate the supporters of the NPP, the NPP would have no option than to ask their supporters to fight back. He was however quick to add that such actions would not augur well for peaceful coexistence.
Techiman is one of the hotbeds of political violence. During the 2008 general elections, the municipality recorded very serious clashes between the NPP and NDC which led to the maiming of many innocent people.
Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that both the NDC and NPP are arming themselves in anticipation of any clash during the general elections.
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