AN ATTEMPT by the Electoral Commission (EC) to re-register people of Sege Presby Primary centre in the Ada West District of the Greater Accra Region was met with stiff opposition.
The move which was perceived by the residents as a calculated attempt to disenfranchise them, for fear of double registration, was stopped by angry residents of the area.
Before the violence and subsequent stoppage of the second registration, police personnel from the Sege District Police Headquarters, who were deployed officers to the place, were unable to calm tempers and so SWAT officers from the Tema Regional Police Command were called in for reinforcement to ensure that peace prevailed.
The residents went berserk after the EC packed its equipment from a centre without registering anyone.
Last Monday, the EC completed the registration of first-time voters who had the opportunity to register at Sege Presby Primary School and was expected to move to Madavunu, a suburb of Sege, but the EC returned to the same school.
Residents believed the EC connived with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to return to the Sege Presby School to re-register people who had already gone through the process, in order to disenfranchise them because the area was the stronghold of the biggest opposition party in the country.
Second Registration
The EC was said to have gone to the school that Saturday afternoon and mounted its kits to register the people again when some youth of the area stormed the centre to cause commotion.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, Prince Akoto, Director of Elections for the NPP in the Sege Constituency, explained that an emergency District Inter-Party Advisory Committee (DIPAC) meeting was held and the EC and the NDC suggested that the registration equipment be returned to the Sege Presby School to register more people since majority of the people in the area could not register during the first phase of registration.
According to him, he opposed the suggestion and insisted that the EC remain at Madavunu centre or return to all the centres such as Goi and Agblabanya, among others, where they had conducted registrations since there were people in those areas who did not also get the opportunity to register.
He said the EC rather heeded the advice of the NDC and moved from Madavunu that Saturday afternoon to continue the registration exercise at Sege Presby Primary. He added that he, together with some residents of the area who were also surprised at the action of the EC and the ruling party, therefore stormed the place to halt the registration exercise.
But Christian Otuteye, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sege, explained that the residents and the NPP supporters should have allowed the EC officials to register since most of the residents in the area couldn’t get the opportunity to register during the first phase.
According to him, the EC moved the centre to a less populated area after the first five days of the exercise.
<<Print>>