‘It’s dangerous’ - Asiedu Nketia rejects GAF excuse for Banda military deployment

Despite a statement from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) justifying a military deployment in Banda, a border town in the Bono Region, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is warning it threatens Ghana’s peace.

NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, wants the Armed Forces to immediately withdraw its heavily armed personnel from voters registration centres in the region.

This is despite the GAF’s insistence that it has not deployed armed officers in the area to prevent people from registering.

The NDC General Secretary is convinced that the deployment is meant to ensure ethnic profiling of Ewes.

He further alleges that the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has been busy making sure that Ewes, who usually vote for the NDC in high numbers during elections, are being targeted and prevented from registering.

“It threatens the peace of this country. When military men were dispatched to the Togo border, the government explained that they were there to prevent police from entering the country with COVID-19. Talking about the deployment in this area, targeting the same Ewe ethnic group, it is a very dangerous thing that is happening in this country,” a report by Citi FM quoted Mr Asiedu Nketia.

These strong words are coming despite a statement by the Ghana Armed Forces over the matter.

The GAF said in the statement that the deployment of its men follows a request made by the Regional Security Council (REGSEC).

According to GAF, the deployment was necessitated because both the NPP and NDC were busing people to the registration centres which led to an altercation that led to the death of one person.

The Banda issue grabbed public attention of that of the NDC when videos circulating on social media purported to show a number of military personnel questioning registrants at a particular registration centre while preventing others from registering for the voters’ ID in the area.

The NDC General Secretary insists that the presence of armed personnel has deterred a lot of people from registering for a voters ID card.

Meanwhile, the flagbearer of the NDC has condemned the move by the government to use the Military to intimidate citizens and prevent them from registering because of claims that they belong to a particular tribe so they are not Ghanaians.