Attempts by 66 Ivorians to register: Arrest Asiedu Nketia – Abronye

The Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe (Abronye) has called for the arrest of the General Secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, over his alleged involvement in aiding some persons from Ivory Coast to enter Ghana illegally to acquire the voter ID card in the just-ended registration exercise.

The Electoral Commission of Ghana on Thursday, 6 August 2020 completed a 30-day exercise to compile a new register for the December 2020 polls.

According to the NPP’s Bono regional Chairman, a news item which was aired on TV and has since gone viral on social media, indicates that 66 persons alleged to be Ivorians were arrested in the Banda Constituency of the Bono Region for acquiring a “Ghanaian voter card” illegally.

In a statement issued and signed by the NPP Bono regional Chairman on Friday, 7 August 2020, Mr Abronye stated that: “The arrested persons are individuals who are not Ghanaians, neither are they persons resident in Ghana. The arrested persons are individuals who were led into the country from Ivory Coast by NDC’s General Secretary, Aseidu Nketia. It would be recalled that a few days ago, Aseidu Nketia was seen in an audiovisual clip claiming that the military personnel deployed to Banda are preventing Ewes from registering.”

The statement also noted: “In that same video, he [Mr Asiedu Nketia] was seen leading Kia Rhino trucks containing over 2,000 persons believed to be Ivorians to a registration centre. It must be noted that, on that very day, 2 August 2020 when the military prevented Asiedu Nketia from going to register those illegal persons, Asiedu Nketia subsequently housed those people at his personal residence located at Seikwa, where he fed them and subsequently led them to register at the Banda constituency in bits in order to deceive the military.”

Also, “it must be posited that out of the 66 persons who were arrested, 3 of them are direct relatives of Asiedu Nketia but are resident and hail from Ivory Coast. i.e they are not Ghanaians.”

The statement emphasised that one of such persons, “Kouame Yao Dongo was captured on video. That gentle man is known to be Asiedu Nketia’s uncle’s brother who was in Ghana in 2014 when Asiedu Nketia’s mother passed away.”

It continued that: “Another lady (name withheld) is also known to be a relative of Asiedu Nketia’s late mother by name Madam Afra, who was popularly known as Kwaafora whose father was from Gyaase royal family of which their lineage may be traced outside the boarders of Ghana. For the timely intervention of the military, Asiedu Nketia could not register all the 2,000 persons he bused from Ivory Coast but was able to sneak in a couple of them of which 66 of them have been arrested today”.

“After I had notified the media and security agencies with regard to the intel I had received about the malicious intent of Asiedu Nketia leading illegitimate people to acquire a Ghanaian voter ID card, he then decided to launch an attack on my personality by calling my good self and the mother of the parliamentary candidate for Banda Constituency non-Ghanaians in order to divert the subject matter.”

The statement further continued that: “Per my facts and investigations so far gathered, checks reveals that Asiedu Nketia paid and hired the truck which was transporting the illegal registrants to Ivory Coast. It is of no doubt that all Ewes living at Akayakrom, which is known to be an Ewe community at the Banda Constituency, registered without stress and any form of intimidation.”

Mr Abronye added that the video that was aired on Accra-based “UTV also clearly confirms the fact that, the persons who were seen in a Kia Rhino Truck led by Asiedu Nketia are not Ghanaians but all blooded Ivorians and that alone vindicates the military and exposes the ill motive of Asiedu Nketia to register Ivorians.”

The Bono Regional NPP has, therefore, called “on the Ghana Police Service to immediately arrest, investigate and prosecute Asiedu Nketia for aiding and abetting illegitimate persons to gain a Ghanaian voter ID illegally. “