The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Communication Officer for the Savannah Region Mr Malik Basintale has said that his party in the Region will resist with their blood the busing of strangers into the Damongo constituency to register.

Addressing a press conference at Damongo on 13th July, 2020, Mr Basintale said the busing of strangers into the Damongo constituency has become a daily norm yet the security services are unable to intervene as a result of so-called “Power from above”.

He said that recently a full bus of people from the Kintampo North constituency was stopped on the way by indigenes of the region and upon questioning it was revealed that they were being brought by the NPP to register in the Damongo constituency, vote for President Akufo-Addo and the parliamentary candidate Samuel Abu Jinapor.

Mr Basintale added the bus was taken to the police station and asked to return to wherever it came from.

“The bus drove straight to a Polling station, dropped the people and they were registered in the full presence of the same security personnel and electoral commission which was challenged. Upon confrontations, a scuffle broke out and some got injured in the process,” he said.

Malik Basintale also alleged that on the 30th of June, 2020, at Kurabaso polling station, their constituency Communication officer and members in Damomgo one Kiyoyo, Zambache and Kalacuta were attacked by one Nsorwura who is the leader of the NPP invisible forces here in damongo.

“On 1st July one Atabia who is the secretary of the invisible forces assaulted one Waliu, a brother to the MP for Damongo, Hon Mutawakilu Galus....Atabia and his team assaulted one Abraham who is a journalist of Pad FM and suppressed the freedom of the media in capturing exactly what has been going on here in Damongo,” he alleged.

The Savannah Region NDC Communication Officer observed that some invincible forces brought from Accra and acting as national security persons have been intimidating their agents especially at the Busunu zone including an ambush of their constituency Chairman called Trouble at Tailope, a suburb of Damongo.

“These thugs, criminals and social misfits have been Moving with four new pickups suspected to be filled with weapons of destruction all in support of the NPP candidate, Lawyer Samuel Abu Jinapor. Just last week, additional Four warriors and known gang leaders were brought from tamale, paid and asked to attack anybody they see against the NPP in Damongo,” he further alleged.

Malik Basintale also said; “It has been revealed that all these thugs meet at a special location which is under investigation at Abingakura to share monies given to them and then plan towards the next day's attacks on NDC persons and media persons suspected to be against them”.

Basintale then asked a series of questions; “Why will the people of the Damongo constituency suddenly have to sleep with one eye open? Why has Damongo suddenly become a place of fear? Why will Registration zones become so fearful that indigenes cannot go out to register? Why has the ambition of Akufo-Addo and Samuel Abu Jinapor become a do and die affair to the extent of using self-created security to intimidate people who have love for John Mahama and Hon. Mutawakilu?”.

Mr Basintale said, "We sympathize with the police and legitimate security services on their power taken from them and wish to encourage them to take their autonomy into high esteem and not to allow themselves be used by the already losing Akufo-Addo led government. This government has already exhibited gross failure and super incompetence and nothing at all can save them from the anger, hunger and frustrations of the Ghanaian people deliberately caused by President Akufo-Addo.”

Mr Basintale also serves notice that they no longer going to allow for such intimidating acts in the Damongo constituency and beyond.

“We are hence going to exhibit the full realms of the boot for boot analogy as declared by our party the NDC. We will face the NPP all round and nothing, absolutely nothing can stop us from safeguarding the interest and will of the good people of the Savannah region” he added.

He added; “We are sending a strong caution to the NPP to be mindful of their actions and not to take our tolerance for granted”.

Mr Basintale also said the NDC in the Savannah region has been monitoring the ongoing voter registration exercise that commenced on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 and have made some observations and wish to bring it to the attention of the Electoral Commission, the general public and other stakeholders as we have already tolerated enough from the actions and inactions of both the electoral commission and the government.

On lack of Logistics and Poor human resource by the electoral commission Mr Basintale said all Electoral commission officials across the centers in the Bole-bamboi Constituency claimed they had no paper to do end of day print out for agents and they leave data in the system and agents had to rely on what they had recorded personally at the centers.

He said some polling stations did not make provision for a generator and as such found it difficult to power their systems since their batteries couldn’t last any long and an example is the Gbenfu polling station in Bole and other polling stations that had power did not have a common extension cord to get electricity from a short distance.

He said on Sunday 12th July, 2020 in the Sawla-tuna-kalba constituency the EC halted the entire exercise for about three (3) hours at Goyiri No.2 community centre due to a faulty machine.

On the matter of Rejecting Fulani’s he said there was an ugly scene at Butei in the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency where members of the NPP were preventing residents of the Fulani extraction from registering in the ongoing voter registration exercise and that they are very much surprised that members of the NPP will partake in such an illegal tribalistic discrimination when they have a whole second lady, Samira Bawumia, the wife of the Vice President being a Fulani and votes here in Ghana.

“These Fulani’s had their parents born here in Ghana before 1957, were born here themselves, some married to Ghanaians and as such have every legal right to be registered to vote as they are Ghanaians so far as the laws of the land are concerned”.

On matters of the phase 3 registration,Mr Basintale said there has been a deliberate dispatch of new registration machines into the Savannah region that are 10 times slower than what was used in the past.

He said the issue of busing and Security intimidation
In Daboya and at Polling station (L/A primary school Daboya) on day 3 of the second phase, one of our agents by name Ewuntomah Luman was beaten mercilessly when he challenged some persons bused by the NPP and brought to register. “He was attacked by one of the NPP thugs in Daboya popularly known as ‘Red Bawa, dirty boys”; he said.

He further alleged that these thugs go about the constituency with pepper spray, electric police shockers and other arms of human destruction just to deter NDC supporters from registering to vote for former President John Mahama and MP Hon. Shaibu Obei.