Aliens Vote At Akwatia?

All is not well with the re-run of elections in six polling stations in the Akwatia Constituency of the Eastern Region today following reports that some 500 votes may be smuggled into the voters� register. The leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) yesterday alleged at a press conference in Accra that it had reports that Baba Jamal, the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, who is the candidate of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). He had readied some 500 illegal voters whose names are not in the voter�s register of the six polling stations to cast votes at today�s elections. The NPP claimed Jamal had vowed to get the said 500 �aliens� to vote in today�s election with an excuse that they were residents of the constituency who lived elsewhere but had just transferred their votes to Akwatia. �This attempt by Jamal to smuggle 500 voters into the voters� register would be fiercely resisted at any cost and any alteration of the register would not be allowed this time round,� the NPP charged. The party however warned that it would not kowtow to any suggestion that today�s elections should be postponed because of security arrangements and questioned why the security agencies cannot guarantee the safety of the electorate at six polling stations when the same security service, only about eight months ago, guaranteed the safety of voters in over 22,000 polling stations. �Already, we have cause to believe that the bloody brutality meted on our followers as the police watched unconcerned is because the head of the Eastern Regional Security Council is a National Executive of the NDC and he takes the final decision on security matters in the constituency,� noted Nana Ohene-Ntow, NPP General Secretary and an alleged victim of the Sunday brutality. The NPP chief scribe said he himself was physically pounced on in broad daylight and beaten up by an NDC mob while about 200 police personnel watched the assault with glee and said they needed to be �instructed� before they could save the situation. NPP National Chairman, Peter Mac Manu, said the party and Ghanaians would hold President Atta Mills and the Interior Minister, Cletus Avorka, accountable for any security lapse during today�s elections. He said it was worrying that President Mills and his Vice, John Mahama, had remained tight-lipped over the organized violence that had enveloped Akwatia in the last few days. The party paraded a number of damaged vehicles belonging to its members and alleged that they were all smashed at the Akwatia Constituency by a group of violent NDC operatives and also gave the names of various persons aged between 16 and 66 whom they alleged were brutally assaulted by the same NDC assailants. Government on Sunday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Akwatia following bloody clashes between supporters of the NDC and the NPP ahead of today�s election re-run. The re-run became necessary after thugs carried away the ballot boxes from the said six polling stations during the December 7, 2008 general elections. The NPP candidate, Dr. Kofi Asare, was miles ahead of the NDC�s Baba Jamal after the count of valid votes.