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Ho West chiefs accuse military of intimidation in voter registration exercise

The chiefs allege that military personnel deployed to the district were hounding residents at Honuta, a border community, demanding proof of citizenship

Chiefs in the Ho West District of the Volta Rregion have accused a military detachment in the area of intimidation and harassment in the ongoing voters’ registration exercise.

The paramount chief of Avatime Traditional Area, Osie Adzatekpor VII, who spoke on behalf of 16 other paramount chiefs, said the conduct of the military personnel in the area has created fear and panic among residents, as they are now scared of participating in the ongoing voters’ registration exercise.

He therefore urged on the government to call the officers to order as they will not countenance any such misconduct on their part, as recently witnessed in the Ketu South municipality.

Osie Adzatekpor VII said, “I hear at Honuta on that day, soldiers pointed guns at people to declare their citizenships. How on earth can such a thing happen? To point a gun at a citizen, no, what can the person? He will say something to exonerate him because pointing a gun at him means you are harassing and intimidating him.

“Such intimidation is not acceptable under the constitution. I know President Akufo-Add is a peace-loving person. We don’t accept that soldiers will enter people’s homes that they should bring out aliens; they will break houses and they attempted to break into rooms.

“Are we in peace times or war times? The current registration is not a war situation, it’s a civil constitutional situation that we must all do. We expect that EC and the authorities will adopt civil and constitutional means to determine who a possible registrant is or not.

“We want to send a strong signal that we in the Ho West District, which borders Togo. [that] what happened in Ketu we don’t want it to happen here.”

“Brutalised”

Earlier, the National Democratic Congress also alleged that residents of Holuta are being brutalised.

“The military together with NPP constituency executives are moving to homes and searching rooms without any permission or legal approval.

“An NDC branch chairperson has been brutalised by the military when she tried to prevent them from searching her room without any permission,” a statement from the opposition party claimed.

The “unprofessional and politically motivated exercise is causing fear and panic in the community”, the NDC says.

Lambert Atsivo

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Source
Lambert Atsivor, Ho
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