Don’t allow yourselves to be disenfranchised by heavy military presence - Voters told

The Volta Regional House of Chiefs is encouraging all Voltarians who qualify to vote in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections not to allow themselves to be disenfranchised by the heavy military presence in the region.

A statement issued to the Press and signed by the Vice President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, Togbega Patamia Dzekley VII encouraged the people not to be intimidated or harassed by security personnel detailed to the area for the election.

The statement also enjoined the people to remain peaceful before, during and after the December 7 general elections.

The Volta Regional House of Chiefs strongly opposed the deployment of the heavily armed military personnel by the Government to the region during the Voters Registration Exercise.

On 24th November, 2020, the House issued a press statement calling on the Government to withdraw the massive deployment of security personnel from the Volta Region with immediate effect.

However, a Deputy Minister of Defence came out to justify the deployment of the military personnel to the region.

“The Deputy Minister was reported as saying among other things that the opposition NDC has also been berating the Government over the deployment of soldiers in the region. We members of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs are not agents or spokesmen of the NDC or any political party in Ghana. It is unfortunate for the Deputy Minister to profile a Regional House of Chiefs as such”.

According to the statement, the only thing the House sought out to do was to call on the Government to provide a conducive environment and stop the intimidation and harassment of the people of Volta Region.

It said that the contention or argument asserting deployment in other regions of the country who are not complaining is because there is perhaps no intimidation and harassment of the people in the regions”.

The statement however, called on the people to report any trouble makers or untoward conducts to the police, and also remain vigilant and expose any acts of intimidation or violence to the law enforcement agencies before, during and after the election.