Government has debunked assertions made by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regarding the deployment of some military personnel to the Volta Region.
It has explained the deployment of the military personnel to the region to be enhanced efforts by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to enforce compliance to border closure directive by President Akufo-Addo in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and not to intimidate or harass Voltarians as claimed by the NDC.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Monday, Minister for Defense, Dominic Nitiwul, said the deployment of military personnel to the region was a redeployment due to rising rate of crime in the region.
Military deployments to the region were made as far back as March 30, to help the GIS to ensure compliance to the border restrictions but the soldiers were recalled after the three week lockdown was lifted, however crime in the area seemed to be on the rise hence the redeployment of military officers, he said.
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He added that the deployment of security personnel to the border between the Volta Region and Togo was nothing new as that has been the norm since 2019.
Prior to the March 30 deployment, government, since 2019 in an operation codenamed Conquered Fist, deployed 12 officers and 372 men of the military, four officers and 265 men of the police plus 172 immigration officials and 70 GRA officials to ensure sanity along some of the country’s border towns in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and Northeast regions, he also noted.
The decision for redeployment, the minister said, was made after a security council meeting.