Outrage grows over military deployment in Ghana’s Volta Region

Some Ghanaians have expressed outrage following a military deployment to parts of the country, especially in the Volta Region.

It comes ahead of a scheduled voter registration exercise set to be rolled out across the country by the Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday, July 30, 2020.

Even though there are suggestions that the deployment was to secure Ghana’s borders because of COVID-19 and the illegal entry of foreigners into the country, opposition MPs have questioned the claim.

The MPs are of the view that the presence of the military in the regions known to be NDC strongholds is to intimidate residents ahead of the voter registration exercise next week.

The lawmakers who belong to the Volta caucus on the Minority side in Parliament are set to storm the Ketu South District in the Volta Region tomorrow [Monday, June 29, 2020].

Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in a tweet indicated that the MPs “stand in solidarity with the oppressed and we stand in readiness to confront & defeat bigotry”.

Already, some residents along the Ghana-Togo border in the southern part of the Volta Region say they are living in fear due to the presence of soldiers along the border.

Some natives from the region have already launched a social media campaign demanding the immediate withdrawal of the armed personnel from the enclave.

Background

The Minority in Parliament had earlier asked the President to withdraw all military personnel deployed to some of Ghana’s eastern border towns.

The military personnel were sighted in the Volta Region, Oti Region, Northern Region, Upper East Region and Upper West Region.

But the Minority indicated that they were more concerned with happenings in the Volta Region, especially the Ketu North and South districts.

“There is a certain scheme which is designed by the government to intimidate our teeming supporters from coming out in their numbers to register and have their names on the new voter register,” the Minority Spokesperson on Defence and Interior, James Agalga, said to the press.

He maintained that the deployment was uncalled for because “after all, we are all aware that our borders were shut down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”