Retired civil servant detained as an alien during voters registration

A 76-year-old visually impaired man, Christian Agbeviade, was detained at Kpetoe in the Volta region after being accused of being a foreigner when he visited a voters registration centre to register.

Mr Agbeviade, who has served the country for many years as a civil servant at the Ministry of Defence, the Base workshop, the 37 military hospital and the staff college shared his bitter experience in a video shared by Ben Dotse Malor on his Facebook wall.

“They said they made special arrangements for us the elderly, the disabled, and the weak who cannot mingle with the crowd to come to Kpetoe and register so that by the time they come to our neighbourhood, we won’t have to be bothered. But as we came some confusion and turmoil ensued and we've been arrested and detained as aliens,” he lamented.

According to him, he was arrested despite possessing a valid national passport. He also added that he had an eye problem which made it difficult for him to properly recognize the area he was in, and as a result, they said he was a Togolese.

“I can’t see, but I know Kpetoe very well. My eye problem wasn’t with me from childhood, so I know the area, but with this eye problem, I can’t see. I am even unable to recognize my own children. So, they arrested us with the allegation that we are Togolese, but I had my Ghana passport in my pocket,” he said.

“If I am an alien, Ghana wouldn’t have issued me a passport,” he added.

Mr Dotse Malor, in an attached post, condemned the treatment meted out to the old man, urging Ghanaians not to condone such acts.

“IF YOU REMAIN SILENT then you are complicit in, condoning, and supporting this blatant bigotry, alienation, disenfranchisement, intimidation, harassment, and evil agenda,” he wrote.