Two persons are in the custody of police in Tamale, in the Northern Region, for allegedly registering people for the voters’ ID card at a secret location.
The suspects were arrested after some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) alerted the police of an alleged illegal registration ongoing in the Tamale South constituency on Friday, July 17, 2020.
Citi News gathers that the suspects were arrested with the Electoral Commission’s biometric registration kit in their possession and were handed over to the police.
The party’s executives in the Savannah Region told Citi News that their preliminary findings reveal the machine in question was the one assigned to the region but was supposed to be sent to Damongo for repairs as it has become faulty.
However, the device allegedly found its way to the Northern Region and was used to register members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a hideout.
Malik Basintale, the Savannah Regional Communication officer of the NDC told Citi News that the arrest vindicates their earlier position that the NPP was manipulating the registration system.
“The Northern Regional executives intercepted a machine that was undertaking registration in the Tamale South constituency. Upon investigations, it was revealed that, this was the machine that was said to have broken down yesterday [Thursday, July 16, 2020] and was meant to be carried to Damongo [the regional capital] for maintenance and be brought back to continue the registration process but the machine found itself in the Tamale South constituency registering NPP persons.”
“This so-called Electoral Commission officer who is a card bearing member of the NPP will be used as a scapegoat in this matter…We are sending a caution that ‘operation protect your polling station’ is on course and everybody will take charge of their polling station. Anybody who will be caught anywhere in the region or across the country will be dealt with severely,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Police Command has confirmed the arrest of the two persons and says investigations are ongoing into the case.
In a statement, the police gave the name of the two suspects as Mumuni Abilla Yusif 26, and Mohammad Yushaw Kongsoha 32.
Read the police statement below:
On 17 July 2020 at 0800 hours, the police acting upon intelligence arrested suspect Mumuni Abilla Yusif 26, data entry clerk at Kpanshegu Registration cluster in the North East Gonja district in the Savanah region at Vittin in the Tamale Metropolis.
A search in his room recovered one Biometric Voter Registration(BVR) kit. Further investigation led to the arrest of a second suspect Mohammad Yushaw Kongsoha 32 years, and the registration officer at Kpanshegu cluster.
At the time of the arrest of two, 12 persons including 10 males and 2 females had been registered on 17 July 2020 between 0704 hours and 0800 hours at Vittin, which is not a designated registration centre. The two are currently in the custody of the police assisting with the investigation.
After investigation, they will be be charged with the appropriate Offences and put before court.
