General News of Tuesday, 7 December 2004

Source: GNA

Shooting incident mars voting at Bawku Central

Accra, Dec.7 GNA- An unidentified person shot and injured a soldier at a polling station in the Bawku- Central Constituency, following disagreement over the right of the Member of Parliament for the area, Madam Hawa Yakubu to cast her vote, when she failed to trace her name in the Voters' Register.

This followed disagreement by some angry voters about the decision of the electoral officials and party agents to allow, the MP to exercise her franchise since her photograph was found in the Register. Mr David Asante-Apeatu, Director of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service who made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said as a result of the incident, the electoral officer in-charge of the polling station was compelled to halt proceedings.

Nana Stephen Owusu-Nsiah, Inspector General of Police, however noted that most of the reports of attacks and intimidations on voters being reported by some local FM stations were found to be untrue and speculative, when security personnel were dispatched to the scene. He asked the stations to seek clarification before broadcasting such stories in order not to create unnecessary panic.

Nana Owusu-Nsiah said adequate security personnel had been deployed to all the polling stations to ensure law and order.