The mounting number of arrests of foreigners, particularly Togolese infiltrating the country to partake in the ongoing voter registration exercise in the past few days, points at an unfolding project to breach the border shutdown as orderedby the President.
Coupled with this anomaly are reports of instances of foiled attempts at breaching existing registration regulations for which a number of suspects are being held by the police.
In the latest foiled attempts by Togolese and Nigerien nationals to register as voters in the country, six persons have been arrested.
The Togolese were picked up at Tabor Todzi Polling Station in the Kadjebi District of the Oti Region.
The four were said to be using Ghanaian names to outwit the system in order to get Ghana voters’ ID cards.
They include Tayibu Kadel, 22; Boateng Innocent, 38; Mensah Oklu, 25 and Roger Oklu, 26, who during interrogation claimed that they were contracted by a syndicate operating under the Akan Constituency Chairman of the NDC, one Yusif Yakubu, to recruit Togolese to cross over into Ghana and register.
They indicated that in the last Togolese elections, the NDC chairman and the assembly member for Sabram-Manida Electoral Area, who is also a constituency executive of the NDC, Aliru Suleman, together with some of ‘their boys’ moved into Togo to register and subsequently vote during the Togolese general elections.
They said it was their turn to reciprocate that gesture.
Later, one Elolo Akpolu and an accomplice operating as part of the syndicate under the NDC Akan Constituency chairman were arrested at Tsortomer D.A. Primary Polling Station after they had allegedly organized and led a group of thugs to beat up the NPP polling station agent stationed there for challenging all Togolese who tried to register for the voters’ ID.
Exhibiting an outstanding boldness, they are able to use their knowledge of the many footpaths dotting the frontier to execute their project—the motive being moneys—derivable from their sponsors.
In another development, a certain Francis Agorson was allegedly attacked by Togolese thugs, apparently for making it difficult for them to infiltrate into the country to register to vote.
Upper East
In the Upper East Region, another Togolese by name Bouuiigue Kouassi was arrested as he attempted to register.
He was arrested at the Pulimakom border post at the Bimpelle Primary School by a joint immigration/police team following a tipoff.
He had attempted using a different name to register in the Tempane District when he was pounced upon and whisked away as he waited in a queue.
He told interrogators that he entered through an unapproved route and was supported by two Ghanaians guarantors.
The police are on the heels of the said two persons who vouched for his Ghanaian citizenship.
Nigerien Arrests
The Accra Regional Police Command over the weekend arrested two men suspected to be Nigeriens and a political party agent for causing confusion at the Fire Service Regional registration centre at Makola, Accra.
The three suspects, whose identities have been withheld by the police, allegedly caused a fight and disrupted the registration process for close to one hour.
According to sources, one of the Nigeriens who had registered attempted to vouch for his compatriot to also register for the voters’ card when the political party agent who suspected them not to be Ghanaians confronted them.
The source said the confrontation later generated into a fight, thus disrupting the registration process.
The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police(DSP ) EfiaTenge, when contacted said the incident occurred around 1:30pm Saturday, saying “they will be taken to court for prosecution on the charge levelled against them.”
Foiled Breaches
In the Sunyani West Constituency, a certain Felix Boahen is being held by the Municipal Police for illegally possessing completed EC guarantors’ forms.
The suspect (said to be an NDC activist) was said to have been spotted by Kwame Baffoe aka Abronye, the Bono Regional NPP Chairman, and his team during a visit to the Dumasua Polling Station last Friday and was handed over to the police.
The police are said to be interested in where the suspect got the hundreds of completed and thumb-printed guarantors’ forms.
Borders Closed
Although shut, the country’s frontiers, especially the Togo side, is scene of underground activities as attempts are made to ferry in foreigners to come and register in the ongoing exercise, NDC agents prominent in the illegality.
The pronounced security presence along the frontiers with soldiers supporting has thwarted somewhat the activities of the willing Togolese and their local party persons in Ghana in whose interest such illegal registrations are.
That notwithstanding, some Togolese have managed to come and register as well as other ECOWAS citizens.
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the President ordered the closure of the country’s frontiers and with the ongoing registration exercise, many Ghanaians have called for the continued closure so non-citizens do not partake in it as they did in the past.
Many foreigners are in possession of the now invalid voters’ cards. It was instructive that the NDC insisted that it be accepted as proof of citizenship and for the purpose of acquiring the replacement.
The Supreme Court upheld the contents of the CI 126 which outlawed the old voters’ card as a requirement for the ongoing registration exercise.
With the registration just a week old, security agents and willing Ghanaians along the frontiers must be vigilant as the acquisition of the voters’ card is brisk business with monetary value to it and therefore attractive to foreigners, especially Togolese.
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), in its response to the invasion, announced a reshuffle of its top hierarchy.
By A.R. Gomda