An initial peaceful press conference organised by some aggrieved members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Manhyia North Constituency in the Ashanti Region degenerated into invocation of the powerful Ashanti deity, Antoa Nyamaa, to kill any of the regional party officials who might attempt to foment trouble by employing the services of machomen during the rerun of the polling station election.
Curse
The press conference by some affected 195 disenfranchised voters was also used to invoke curses, for the gods to completely wipe out the family of the individual who might have hired thugs (machomen) to heavily brutalise them last week Monday.
The group of machomen was alleged to have been hired by the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Mr Bernard Antwi-Bosiako, otherwise known as Chairman Wontumi.
Apology
In a statement, the injured party supporters demanded an unqualified apology from Mr Antwi-Bosiako and also cautioned him not to bring thugs to yesterday’s election at the constituency.
There was heavy police and military presence at yesterday’s election to prevent any possible attack from rival groups.
Chaotic scenes
The chaotic scenes heralding the election could best be described as shadow-boxing between supporters of the two main candidates, incumbent Collins Owusu Amankwah and his challenger Nana Osei Banfo.
The polling station election was to regularise the voting rights of the affected party supporters to make them eligible to cast their ballot on Monday to elect either the incumbent Member of Parliament or his challenger.
But in the face of all these allegations, Mr Antwi-Bosiako has remained calm and has refused to comment on the matter. Rather, two party stalwarts, one Padmore, believed to have invoked a curse and one Nana Poku have engaged each other on radio to either justify the alleged action by Mr Antwi-Bosiako’s Delta Force machomen or kick against it.
Primary
The Manhyia North Constituency election of the NPP has been stalled due to a number of cases of litigation and alleged irregularities.
Loyalists of Mr Banfo alleged last November that the incumbent failed to meet the deadline to submit his nomination papers and therefore was not eligible to stand.
That allegation was, however, denied by party constituency executive members and eventually gave the two candidates the green light to contest.
Following that, a road map was agreed late last November by all feuding parties to ensure that all disenfranchised voters were properly registered and duly assigned to enable them to cast their ballot.
Attack
The disenfranchised voters had gathered at an agreed venue for the exercise to take place last Monday but the chairman allegedly invited them to the regional party office on grounds that there had been a change of venue.
The Constituency Secretary, Mr Felix Ibrahim, alleged that on arriving at the regional office, a group of thugs descended on them and brutalised them.
The chairman rescheduled the exercise date to yesterday and it started at 11 am.
Background
The Manhyia North was one of the new constituencies created by the Electoral Commission ahead of the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.
It used to be part of the Manhyia Constituency and a key catalyst to the NPP’s parliamentary victory in the region.
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By: Dan K. Prince//dailyviewgh.com
Editor’s Email: dailyviewgh@gmail.com
