TWO members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who were sent by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hohoe North, Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor, to verify an alleged registration malpractice at the Wli Todzi Polling Station in the Hohoe Municipality are reportedly missing.
One other person, identified as Yaro Haruna, 32, who was also sent by the MP, was stabbed in the chest, but managed to escape to Togo before returning to Ghana, while two others on the same mission were arrested and remanded by the Hohoe Police to help with investigation into the whereabouts of the missing men.
The men were among seven NDC activists who were sent by the MP of the area to monitor situations at the registration centre.
The names of those missing were given only as Mr Cooker, a driver, and Mr Tumewu, an Assembly member of Fodome Ahor. Those arrested were Sadiq Abubakari, 21, a footballer, and Abdul Kadri Yusif, 38, a sprayer.
As of last Wednesday, August 6, 2008 when registration should have closed at the polling station, after four days of registration in the community, the seven-member group was surprised at the long queue of people still waiting to be registered.
The incident happened after some accusations and counter-accusations from members of the two leading political parties concerning the registration of foreigners and minors, which generated tension within the Wli Todzi Polling Station in the Hohoe Municipality.
Wli Todzi, a farming community located on a plateau and has a population of about 2000 can only be reached by road through the Republic of Togo, thus the inhabitants do almost all their businesses in Togo.
While the NPP said all the people in the queue were Ghanaians, the NDC tried to prevent them from registering, with the explanation that they were aliens and minors.
The attempt by the NDC group to verify the ages and citizenship of some of the people in the queue was vehemently resisted by a section of the youth which resulted in a free-for-all.
In the ensuing fight, the policeman on duty fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.
A vehicle belonging to one of the MPs, a Rexton, with registration number GE 6470 W, was vandalised by the irate youth, and the only bridge to the community was also destroyed to prevent any vehicle from going to or leaving the area.
Mr Hayibor told the Daily Graphic, that he had a hint that a lot of people would come from Togo to register at the polling station, so he sent the seven people in his vehicle to monitor the situation.
“We are aware of busloads of people from Yikpa and its environs in Togo who were given money to register at Wli Todzi,” he alleged.
He said they were surprised that those in the queue were minors who could not speak a word in even pidgin English.
He said but for the benevolence of a party agent who hinted the seven people of an imminent attack, the situation would have been fatal, especially after the bridge had been destroyed.
In a related development, the Kadjebi Police have remanded Prosper Tetteh, a cameraman of the Electoral Commission (EC), and his accomplice, who allegedly travelled to Togo and took shots of some people to be registered.
Tetteh and his accomplice, Agbeko Dornyo, were ambushed by a group of NDC agents at about 4.30 am last Wednesday, between Havekope and Kechi in the Kadjebi District in the Volta Region.
During a search, the digital camera and its accessories, and a laminator packed in an EC suitcase, were concealed in a fertiliser bag and handed over to the police for further investigations.
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