Irate youth compel Hohoe Police to release suspects

Hohoe, Aug 7, GNA - A group of angry youth late Wednesday evening, forced the Hohoe Police to grant bails to Abdel Kadel Usif and Abubakar Sadiq, two persons arrested for allegedly disrupting voter registration at Wli-Todzi near Hohoe.

The youth with red bands around their arms and foreheads amidst chanting of war songs thronged the Hohoe Police Station and mounted pressure upon the police to release the two suspects. Mr Kofi Adei-Akyeampong, Hohoe Divisional Police Commander told the Ghana News Agency (GNA): "We had no other option at that material moment than to grant bail to the suspects, who had sustained various degree of injury."

He, however, assured that no amount of intimidation would stop the police from carrying out an investigation into the matter. Mr Adei-Akyeampong said armed policemen and personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service at the Wli-Todzi border post arrested Usif and Sadiq, who were among a group of five, attacked the registration centre and destroyed registration materials.

Mr John Heh, Supervising Electoral Officer in-charge of Hohoe Municipality told the GNA that he received information from a registration officer at Wli-Todzi on Tuesday that materials were in short supply and that some supporters of the National Democratic Congress had alleged that some non-Ghanaians were being registered at the centre.

He said he arrived at Wli-Todzi early Wednesday morning with the registration materials, and just when he was about leaving, a black Rexton car with registration number GE 6470 "E" belonging to Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor, Member of Parliament for Hohoe-North arrived together with five men.

Mr Heh said those in the car suddenly began vandalizing everything in sight including tables, chairs and registration items. He said two armed policemen and officials of the Ghana Immigration Service, who were at the registration centre to maintain security, gave warning shots which dispersed the crowd and in the process the two were arrested. Mr Hayibor's car was also deflated.

Mr Hayibor told the GNA that indications were that some foreign youngsters were being allowed to register.

Mr John Peter Amewu, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive whom the MP accused of being behind the alleged foreigners' registration, denied and said politics was about strategies and not brute force. He said even if Mr Hayibor had cause to complain about the exercise, there was no way he could justify that by instigating the destruction of the registration materials. "Why attack registration materials? Mr Amewu asked.