Punish lawlessness at voter registration centers – Chief Imam
The National Chief Imam, Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, has urged the police to punish perpetrators of lawlessness at the various voter registration centres in the country.
“Such act of aggression during simple voter registration must be condemned seriously,” he said.
According to him, a simple compilation of a new voter register should not turn into chaos and the display of firearms.
“…most disturbing among them are the shooting of guns at some centres, and the stabbing of an innocent citizen of our country,” the country chief Islamic cleric said at Virtual Eid-al-Adha celebrations organised by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
It is the second time this year the state-broadcaster hosted a virtual prayer session–the first being the Eid-ul-Fetr celebrations in May–as the government imposed COVID-19 restriction to tame the spread of the virus.
Eid al-Adha is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) to follow Allah’s (God’s) command to sacrifice his son. Allah miraculously provided a ram to replace Abraham’s son as his father passed the test.
The Electoral Commission of Ghana began the compilation of new voters registers ahead of the 2020 general election on June 30.
The exercise has recorded a few incidences of violence.
Another violent act occured at Banda in the Bono Region, where a fresh graduate from the Akim Oda Teacher Training College was allegedly mistaken to be an NPP activist and stabbed to death.
NPP executives in the area rebuffed the claim.
Registration centres at Kotobabi and Accra New Town in the Greater Accra Region, Hohoe in the Volta Region, and Asawaase in the Ashanti Region all recorded act of violence which impeded the smooth running of the exercise.
Even though three suspects have been arrested in connection to the Kasoa shooting, not much has been head of the outcome.
Another incident happened on Monday, July 27 at Aboabo in Kumasi where a man who claimed to be a national security operative threatened a policeman at a registration centre with a gun.
With growing fears among the clergy that the impunity could degenerate into a bigger problem ahead of the December 7 polls, the National Chief Imam urged the various security agencies to hunt for the perpetrators and punish them.
“We will like to urge the security agencies to expedite investigations and punish perpetrators of the crime and lawlessness” he noted.
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