Suspected Togolese stopped from registering for Ghana voters card in Volta Region

Correspondence from Volta Region:

A woman, believed to be in her early 30s was stopped from registering for the Ghanaian voters identification card by officials of the Electoral Commission on the grounds that she is not Ghanaian.

The incident happened on July 2, 2020, at the Zion Primary School registration centre at Penyi in the Ketu North Municipality, of the Volta Region.

The woman who is suspected to be a Togolese national was been helped by a Ghanaian guarantor. During the process of the registration, she was asked to provide the name of her hometown. Her response gave a hint to the registration officials.

When she was asked further to name the exact place she comes from, she mentioned Togo. This prompted the registration officials to halt the process in order to further interrogate her.

During the interrogation, it came to light that the woman settled in the town not so long ago and lives in the same house with her Ghanaian guarantor.

However, the suspected Togolese was not handed over to the Police despite the presence of a personnel at the registration center.

One of the registration officials was only heard saying she [the suspected Togolese] will be arraigned before court on Monday although the suspect was not handed over to the police.

A similar incident happened on Thursday, July 2, 2020, at the Pulimakom Border Post in the Upper East Region when a Togolese national attempted to acquire Ghanaian voters’ ID card. The foreigner, however, was not lucky as he was immediately arrested by officers of the Ghana Immigration Service and the Police Service at the registration center.

The registration exercise in the Ketu North Municipality has been smooth with minimal challenges and incidents. On the first day of the registration exercise, the municipality recorded a total of 1,696 applicants who successfully registered.