Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama says the military deployment to the Volta region is intimidatory and could prevent people from coming out to partake in the voter registration exercise.
According to him, it could not have been a mere coincidence that the government dispatched military personnel to join immigration officers to enforce the closure of borders at a time when the Electoral Commission was about beginning its compilation of the new voter register.
Even though he thinks it would have been reasonable if they were deployed at the time Ghana’s COVID-19 were low, the former President called on the citizens to maintain cool heads and exercise restraint despite the heavy military presence.
In his tour of some voter registration centres in the region on Saturday, July 11, 2020, Mr Mahama told party members that “I have been briefed on what is happening and I will continue to urge them to exercise restraint”.
“We know the intimidation that is going on and how it has affected their livelihoods because they cannot move freely on their own lands but I still ask them to exercise restraint and encourage them in their numbers to come out and register ahead of the 2020 general elections”, he said.
He added that the deployment was only surprising because whenever the military is deployed it suggests the country is serious crisis.
“Just at the start of the exercise, there was a report of the military to certain parts of the country. We know that the military is one of the security services and it has the mandate of defending the territorial integrity of our country against external aggression, so, anytime there is the deployment of the military, then you know that there is an extreme crisis and, so, it took a lot of us by surprise,” he said.
Among some of the areas visited by the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress are South Tongu, Akatsi South, Ketu North, Ketu South, Akatsi North, Agotime-Ziope and Ho Central Constituencies
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Story by: Awudu Abdul Nasir | www.universnewsroom.com