Police invite Muntaka over bloody Asawase registration violence

The Ashanti Regional Police Command has extended an invite to Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase Constituency, Hon. Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak over the bloody violence that rocked agents of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) compelling officials of the Electoral Commission (EC) to suspend the ongoing Limited Voter Registration exercise in the area.

“We invited him and took a statement from him. He has not been arrested any way”, Regional Police Commander, COP Kwasi Duku Ampofo told MyNewsGh.com’s Ashanti Regional Correspondent in a telephone conversation.

Hon. Muntaka, who is also the MP for Asawase in the Ashanti region, has been accused of slapping an activist of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who was preventing him from registering a minor.

The supposed victim, Zeinab Jibril allegedly pulled a veil of a lady the MP had brought to the registration centre on suspicion she may be a minor.

Angered by her action, Hon Muntaka was said to have subjected her to severe beatings and an attempt by supporters of the NPP to rescue her, marred the registration process at the polling station

Police and military personnel were deployed to the Asokore Mampong Municipal Office of the EC to maintain order following the confusion over the alleged registration of minors.

Following the impasse, the EC officials in the Ashanti Region met with the leadership of both parties and security heads to resolve the matter.

The leadership of the parties also signed an undertaking to assure their compliance with the rules governing the exercise.

Ashanti Regional Director for the Electoral Commission, Benjamin Bannor Bio, explained the tensions stemmed from confusion over the identity of students who were being given preferential treatment in addition to the elderly, persons with disability and pregnant women.

“Because school is in session, we decided to extend it to the students who would be coming from their schools to come and register so that when they come they will not have to spend too much time there,” he said.

“But there was suspicion from the party representatives about some identities and there was a fight over the attempt to register them”, Mr. Bio recounted, adding that “the problem was pure identification so what we arrived at is that the schools will be rotating.”