... Of Disrupting Review Committee Sittings

Reports reaching newsmen in Accra indicate that the activities of the District Electoral Review Committee in the east Akyem District in the Eastern Region were disrupted last week at one of its sitting at Adeiso allegedly by some agents of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

NPP representative on the committee identified only as Hadze, together with the NPP Chairman for the Area and some sympathisers, allegedly stormed a sitting of the Committee, threatened and whisked away a witness who was challenging the eligibility of a registered voter.

Narrating the incident at the office of The Heritage, the Chairperson of the East Akyem EGLE Party, Madam Selormey Oparebea, a.k.a. IG who was the party?s representative on the Committee, said for some time now, sympathisers of the NPP have been preventing the Committee from carrying out its job in the district.

The District Electoral Review Committee was set up by the Electoral Commission in all districts to review reported cases of alleged illegal registrations and has representation from all the registered political parties, together with the District Director of Education, who is the chairman, the chief of Adieso, representative from the EC and a representative of the District Police Commissioner.

According to Madam Oparebea, the Committee started its work at Asamankese where the Committee is based and handled 19 reported cases after which the nine-member Committee agreed to travel to Adieso to review 400 reported cases there. She said the decision to move sitting to Adieso which was arrived at by all committee members was due to the large numbers involved in the Adieso area and thought it wise that, instead of the complainants moving to Asamankese, the Committee should rather move to Adieso.

However, she said, when the committee members were about to move to Adieso on the agreed date, they received a letter from the Electoral Commission in which they stated that the NPP had petitioned them not to move the sitting of the Committee to Adieso but rather sit at Asamankese. She said the NPP warned them that if they moved to Adieso they would be attacked; but the Committee members decided that once the decision had been taken and had all agreed on, they would move to Adieso. The Committee subsequently gave the Police at both Adieso and Asamankese prior information to be on the alert to forestall any disturbance.

Madam Oparebea said when they got to Adieso, Hadze, who comes from the town, had already signed the attendance book indicating his presence.