The timely intervention of a group of armed policemen on Monday prevented what could have been bloody clashes between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the AME Zion JHS at Asafo, one of the numerous voter registration centres in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.
A girl, suspected to be a minor, was challenged by the NDC agent at the centre and this ignited a free-for-all fracas between the NDC and NPP supporters.
The girl, name not known, had virtually finished the registration process and was about to be issued with her voter identity card when the NDC man protested her age.
A woman, suspected to be the mother of the girl, became furious and so she took away the ID card and left the venue with her child, who she claimed was 19 years old.
The NPP members at the scene insisted that the girl was eligible to register whilst the NDC faithful argued that she looked very tiny and so she was a minor.
Members of the two leading political parties in the country at the scene reportedly became so furious that they started trading verbal assaults which could have ended up in a fisticuff, but for the timely arrival of the police.
The policemen did a professional job as they sacked members and supporters of both parties who stood very close to the Electoral Commission officials from the place for the important national exercise to continue.
When DAILY GUIDE visited the place at 3:30 pm, supporters of the NDC and the NPP were seen standing very close to the registration center, still arguing about who was eligible to register.
One Constance Owusu, born on January 13, 1996, who was earlier challenged over her age by the NDC representative, was seen producing her birth certificate to the EC officials which clearly showed that she was eligible to register.
After scrutinizing her birth certificate, representatives of the two political parties unanimously agreed that Constance was eligible to register so the challenged form filed against her was cancelled.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, Augustine Antwi, the Registration Officer, Asafo Electoral Area, complained bitterly over the seeming lack of understanding and cooperation between the NDC and the NPP agents.
According to him, about 50 people had registered at the centre before the near brawl, adding that but for the misunderstanding between the two parties, the entire process was going on smoothly.
Sakyi David, aka ‘Kofi NDC,’ who was representing the ruling political party, denied that he was fomenting trouble, and stated that the right thing ought to be done to ensure a peaceful process.
He asked that people who looked like minors should be ordered to show their birth certificates or produce two guarantors to testify that indeed that person is of age for the exercise.
Osei Asamoah Collins, the NPP agent, accused his NDC counterparts of always trying to challenge the ages of most of the people that turned up at the centre to register.
He described the registration exercise as a national affair and admonished the NDC man to stop the unnecessary interruptions so as to ensure that the process goes on smoothly.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that in general, the exercise was peaceful in the Ashanti Region on Monday – the first day of the process.
