Military officers had no business being at registration centres – Kweku Baako on Banda violence

Veteran journalist, Kweku Baako has expressed disquiet about the presence of military officers at some voter registration centres.

According to Baako, the presence of the military men provided enough basis for certain people to assume that the government was bent on victimizing and denying some people their rights to register and vote in the December 2020 elections.

Reacting to reports of violence in the Banda constituency, Baako opined that the government could have saved itself from the allegations of victimization by not deploying soldiers to the centres.

Baako said that the government should have stuck to its initial plan of soldiers protecting the borders instead of allowing them to patrol registration centres.

While stating that some of the issues have been exaggerated, Baako admitted that there have been some instances of violence in the process.

“There have been incidence and though it is not particular to this exercise, we need to focus on this one. Unlike the previous years where citizen journalism was almost non-existent, the advent of social media has made that branch of journalism very prominent. We’ll be dishonest to deny that there have been genuine incidents that we should take a look at”.

“I have seen some videos and the interpretations given to them. I would have preferred military men not being at the registration centres. You don’t create conditions for people to misinterpret. We were all told that the soldiers were going to be at the borders and strategic towns and it made sense”, Baako said.

Baako described the registration process which ends today as a successful one.

He argued that despite the claims and agitations that preceded the exercise, the EC has done a great job with the exercise.

“What is clear that is Ghanaian who are eligible to vote have gone out to register and exercise their right. It’s so obvious that despite the incidence it has been hugely successful one”, he said.