The National Democratic Congress Communicator, Sammy Gyamfi says hundreds of Ghanaians in the Ahafo-Ano North constituency have been disenfranchised because they do not bear Akan names.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on recent violent developments at registration centres across the country, Sammy Gyamfi said the military rather than guarding the nation’s borders as the Interior Minister directed, had instead taken it upon themselves to be ‘citizenship inspectors’ thus harassing those they believed were non-Ghanaians.
He said a rather disturbing incident occurred at the Ahafo-Ano North constituency where military men were aiding EC officials to deny people belonging to the Grumah tribe and other Northerners access to register for the Voters’ ID card.
According to them, these people did not have Akan names, thus did not qualify to be registered in Ahafo-Ano North, their place of residence.
“Despite majority of them possessing Ghana Cards, one of the requirements needed to register, their only crime according to their oppressors is that they do not bear Akan names and therefore cannot be identified as hailing
from the Ahafo Ano North Constituency,” he narrated.
He stated that, despite the media highlighting these infringements, the military and EC official were adamant on their stance, thus disenfranchising hundreds.
“Not even the presence of the media to highlight these obvious infractions of the law has been able to convince the EC and the armed military men deployed to the area to allow these Ghanaian citizens to register,” he said.