Correspondence from Western Region

There was scuffle on Tuesday morning, at Elubo in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region as officials of the National Identification Authority (NIA) attempted to move their registration equipment from the area.

The residents, led by the Assemblymember of the area got into heated arguments which degenerated into a scuffle with officials of the NIA after the latter tried to transfer their kits.

The NIA is embarking on a mop-up registration exercise to register people who couldn't register during the main exercise and the Authority assured the residents of Elubo to finish its work in the area on Thursday, July 23, 2020.

But before the communicated date, residents of Elubo got wind that the NIA officials would be removing their machines from Elubo to Bawia and Ellenda in the Jomoro Municipality on Monday evening, July 13, 2020.

Upon the hint, some residents vowed to stop the NIA to relocate their machines to different places.

On Tuesday morning, over 200 residents formed long queues early in the morning to register but the officials of NIA ignored them and started packing their machines in a pick-up vehicle.

This resulted in a scuffle between the residents and the NIA officials.

During the scuffle, the Assembly Member of Elubo West Electoral Area, Matthew Nana Frendo removed two machines from the pick-up vehicle to stop the officials from leaving the community.

But the police were quick to storm the scene and provided security for the NIA officials to remove all their machines from the community to Bawia and Ellenda.

The aggrieved residents lamented that the extension of the exercise at Elubo was to last for 21 days and hence did not understand the reason it had come to an abrupt end.

All efforts to speak to NIA proved futile as at the time of filing this report.