5 Soldiers, 3 Civilians Arrested In Ashanti

Five military officers from the Tema Navy Command and three civilians were arrested in the heat of yesterday's presidential and parliamentary elections for various electoral malpractices and irregularities.

The military officers had allegedly invaded the New Edubiase Constituency of the Ashanti Region in the company of the parliamentary candidate of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ernest Kofi Yakah, when they were arrested by a military patrol team and detained at the police station.

ASP Martin Assenso, New Edubiase District Police Commander, who confirmed the incident, told DAILY GUIDE that the soldiers were arrested by the military command when it was discovered that the officers had “no pass” to undertake security duties in the constituency.

According to the police chief, one of the unidentified military officers happens to be the son of Kofi Yakah, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, who is seeking re-election.

In view of the volatile security situation in the region, the suspects were placed in custody until everything was calm.

One of them, identified only as Sly, however, managed to escape arrest in a strange circumstance.

The polls were marred by reported attempts to snatch ballot boxes, jumping of queues and in some areas, violence and intimidations.

The exercise, which got underway at about 7:00 am, was going ahead smoothly until some voters began to jostle one another in some polling centres in the Subin and Asawase Constituencies of Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.

At the St. Theresa's Lower Primary 'B' Polling Station, Asawase in particular, misunderstanding ensued between electoral officers and voters when the former attempted to re-arrange the polling centre setting because of the sun.

Polling had to be put on hold for close to 10 minutes following confusion that broke out when some voters who had earlier joined wrong queues elsewhere were directed to come to the polling station, heightening tension.

3 Nabbed With Fake EC Accreditation Cards
Three people are in hot waters, having been arrested for allegedly printing fake Electoral Commission (EC) accreditation cards at Adum in Kumasi yesterday.

The fake accreditation cards had the name of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and some individuals embossed on them.

The police, acting upon a tipoff, arrested them at about 1:30 pm when they were allegedly printing the fake materials at Ark Jam Printing Press, situated at Adum, the heart of Kumasi.

The arrested people included Amoah Gyasi, 37, a staffer of the printing press and Bawuah Richard, 41, who owns the Press.

Stephen Gyan, 54, who was suspected to have engaged the printing press to print the fake materials, was also apprehended by the police.

ASP Mohamed Yussif Tanko, the police PRO, said one Sly, who is said to be the main architect of the production of the fake EC accreditation cards, is still at large.

He told DAILY GUIDE that the three arrested people had been detained at the police headquarters where they were assisting in investigations.

According to him, at the time of the arrest, 32 pieces of the fake accreditation cards had been printed in the name of the ruling NDC.

ASP Tanko stated that the arrested people had not been charged, saying that all efforts were being made to arrest Sly.

The motive for printing the fake cards was not known, but it was being speculated that they were printed to help the NDC to rig the elections.

5 Grabbed With Thumb-printed Ballot Papers In Kyebi

At Kyebi in the Eastern Region, five persons were arrested in possession of thumb-printed ballot papers, police say.

The five were arrested at about 12pm at the Methodist Primary School when they were thumb-printing the papers.

They were said to have been thumb-printed in favour of the NDC parliamentary candidate, Owuraku Amofa.

The report said it's unclear if the ballot papers had serial numbers authenticating them.

The identities of the five were not disclosed by the police who said they were investigating the incident.

The arrest followed a similar report in the Ashanti Region where thousands of ballots were said to have been thumb-printed in favour of President Mahama.

5 'Machomen' Arrested In Tema
Police in Tema arrested five stoutly-built (macho) men for causing discomfort to voters at the Datus Complex School polling station yesterday.

The Tema Regional Police PRO, ASP Juliana Obeng, told Joy News that the men were picked up following complaints from voters that their presence made them feel “uncomfortable and intimidated.”

She said upon interrogation, the men confessed that they were not registered voters at the centre but could not tell the main reason for being at the centre.

The five were said to have gone very close to the polling centre without accreditation and were disrupting the process.

They were brought to the place by an unnamed parliamentary aspirant to help police the process.

From Ernest Kofi Adu & I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi