Police brutalized me for stopping transfer of registration equipment to Togo – Amewu

There is seeming tension in the Akatsi North District of the Volta Region after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) clashed over the location of a registration centre.

Eyewitnesses claimed some thugs raided the Metrikasa electoral area to stop the Electoral Commission and the Police from moving the registration kits to Ete Kope, another community close to the Togo border.

This escalated into an open confrontation between the members of the NDC and the NPP, with the opposition party accusing the EC and the police of siding with the members of the governing party.

The NPP Volta Regional Chairman John Peter Amewu said he was assaulted by some of the police officers when he attempted to take a picture of their vehicle, as proof of their “unacceptable behaviour.”

“A national police patrol team… drove into station and took the registration equipment, put them into their vehicle and drove towards the republic of Togo on a rough road to a village close to Togo which is not part of the registration movement plan,” he stated.

He said he managed to use his vehicle to block theirs, and made sure they returned to the original registration centre.

“In Ghana a national patrol team cannot behave the way they are because were they were taking the vehicle to was close to Togo that village was not part of the registration center. Under no condition should a police vehicle drive to a centre and carry registration equipment. It is not allowed.”

“I an attempt to find out if they were real police men, they started mishandling me… they used the barrel of the gun against my left hand but I later lodged complaint at the central police office in Ho.”

Listen to Peter Amewu below speaking to Citi News about the incident

But Peter Anku, the Akatsi District Registration Supervisor of the Electoral Commission told Citi News the allegations were unfounded, explaining that the EC was compelled to relocate to a new center following an invasion by some unidentified thugs yesterday.

According to Mr. Anku, the thugs invaded the registration center at Metrikasa and severely brutalized members of the NDC monitoring team and also restricted residents in the area from coming to register.

Meanwhile Citi News' attempts to reach the Police for a comment have so far not been successful.