Story: A. Kofoya-Tetteh, Akwatia
THE Ministry of the Interior has imposed a curfew on Akwatia and its environs following mounting tension and violence in the run up to the rerun of the election in six polling stations scheduled for tomorrow, August 18.
The volatile political situation at Akwatia yesterday prompted the police to fire tear gas to disperse supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) who had massed up in the streets possibly for a showdown.
The decision of the Ministry was announced by the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, at the end of an emergency Eastern Regional Security Council meeting in Koforidua yesterday to review the security situation at Akwatia and its implications for the election.
At the end of the meeting, the regional security council called for the postponement of the election because the safety and security of voters could not be guaranteed.
The council also ordered all non-residents of Akwatia who were currently in the town and its environs ostensibly for the Tuesday election to leave the area immediately.
Meanwhile, the mounting tension between supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the rerun of the election in six polling stations of the Akwatia Constituency erupted into violence yesterday, prompting the police to fire tear gas to disperse the combatants.
In the midst of the confusion which occurred at about 7 a. m. and lasted for nearly 15 minutes, seven persons from both sides sustained various degrees of injuries and were sent to the St Dominic Hospital, Akwatia for treatment.
One of the victims was said to be in very serious condition and had to be rushed to the operating theatre.
Four others who were said to have sustained wounds from machetes on Saturday, in another clash between supporters of the two political parties, had earlier been sent to the same hospital.
The General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Ohene Ntow, was also injured in yesterday’s attack and was bleeding from the nose while Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, who, with some reporters, had holed up themselves in the NDC office, had to be escorted to safety.
Three vehicles — a Tata pickup with registration number GS 5867 Z belonging to a member of the Eastern Regional Executive of the NPP, an Opel saloon car with registration number GR 7672 T and another vehicle, a JMC pickup with registration number GN 6031 Z — had their windscreens smashed and parts of their bodies dented.
No arrests had so far been made and the police have mounted roadblocks to search for arms from every vehicle entering the town while a number of security personnel have been placed at vantage points in the town.
For about two hours (8a.m. to 10a.m.) when the Daily Graphic team was in the town, no taxi or any commercial vehicle could go to the town and passengers had to alight at Boadua, a distance of about a kilometre, to continue the journey by foot.
The Akwatia District Police Commander, ASP Kofi Oduro Monko, who was leading about 200 policemen in riot control gear, said his men found it difficult to control the situation because the people, who knew each other, would not allow anybody from the opposing sides to enter their areas.
According to eyewitnesses, yesterday’s incident occurred when members of the NPP decided to go on a walk in the morning after which they organised a mini rally.
The source said while the NPP supporters were gathering, a number of people suspected to be members of the NPP from Wenchi, a town within the constituency, started arriving in the town to join their colleagues who had massed up behind the NPP constituency office.
The source indicated that the NDC supporters, who had also gathered behind their party’s constituency office, which is by the main entrance to the town and few metres from the NPP constituency office, decided to block and search the vehicles carrying the NPP supporters with the view to checking whether or not they were carrying weapons and that generated into the fight.
Nana Ohene Ntow, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, blamed the NDC for the incident and said if such attitude of the NDC was not checked, it might lead to anarchy.
On the other hand, Madam Catherine Ayakwah, an Eastern Regional Executive member of the NDC, accused members of the NPP in the constituency for causing the problem.
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