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13.04.2012 Politics

Registration Process At Asukese Halted

13.04.2012 LISTEN
By Samuel Duodu - Daily Graphic

The Biometric Registration process at Asukese C.M.B. shed at Europa Farms in the Tano South constituency was halted for almost seven hours on Tuesday following a disruption by the Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Asare Antwi.

Mr Antwi, in the company of some party activists, was at the registration centre to prevent some people from registering, with the simple reason that those involved were settler northern farmers who had been working at Europa Farms for the past eight years and that they were not from the place and were not Ghanaians.

It took a timely intervention by the Tano South District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Mr Emmanuel Baah, and the District Officer of the Electoral Commission (EC), Madam Mavis Emefah, to restore order for the registration process to continue.

The people were allowed to register after calm had been restored but the constituency chairman of the NPP who brought the whole exercise to a halt failed to fill a challenge form to contest the residential and nationality status of those involved.

DSP Baah, who confirmed the incident to the Daily Graphic, said aside that incident, the registration process in the Tano South District in the Brong Ahafo Region had been relatively calm and peaceful.

He stated that no one had the right to prevent people from registering, adding that this had been the bone of contention among political parties’ agents monitoring the exercise and the best one could do was to follow the EC rules and regulations for the exercise.

The District Officer of the EC, Madam Emefah, for her part, said it was an offence to physically prevent people from registering, saying anybody who has doubts about the eligibility of anybody registering could fill a challenge form to contest his eligibility status.

She appealed to the various political parties agents who were monitoring the exercise to follow the due process to ensure the success of the exercise.

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