President Akufo-Addo says the deployment of military personnel in some border towns of the country is not intended to intimidate prospective registrants as the electoral commission begins mass voter’s registration tomorrow, Tuesday, June 30.
It comes after the opposition National Democratic Congress accuse the President and the ruling New Patriotic Party of resorting to intimidation to prevent residents of the Volta region – stronghold of the opposition party – to come out and register.
Addressing the ahead of the registration exercise, the President said he will want to win the mandate of Ghanaians in a free and fair election and not a rigged.
“Let me state, without any form of equivocation, that these deployments are not in any way intended to intimidate or prevent eligible Ghanaians from registering to vote in December. They are there for their express purpose, which is to guard our borders. That is the limit of their remit, and they will not be permitted to stray beyond that remit.
“I am fully aware, like the military commanders, of the sensitivity of their deployments at this point in our history, and I am confident that that sensitivity will be fully respected. I have no interest in disenfranchising any eligible Ghanaian from registering in tomorrow’s exercise, nor am I interested in any improper machinations to win any election. I have spent my life fighting for free, democratic institutions in our country, and I will continue in that fight for the rest of my life. The idea of being a President, who emerges from a rigged election, is abhorrent to every fibre of my being. I want to continue to be the President of a Ghanaian people who have given me their free consent, with the blessing of the Almighty,” the President said.
He encouraged Ghanaians of voting age to go out and register in order to enable them vote in the polls in December.