Raid At EC Office; Officials Hide Robbery From Police

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Created on Friday, 18 January 2013 00:00

Raid At EC Office; Officials Hide Robbery From Police

Officials of the Electoral Commission (EC) in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region have been accused of complicity in the raid carried out at the EC’s district office by suspected thugs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The thugs had been allegedly sent on a mission to destroy documents that could be used as evidence in the impending case of electoral petition filed at the Supreme Court by the 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, and two others, against the EC and 2012 Presidential Candidate of the NDC, John Mahama.

The EC’s district office, located within the premises of the Asuogyaman district Assembly at Atimpoku, was broken into on December 30, 2012.

Over two weeks after the raid, tight-lipped officials of the EC have failed to report the incident to the police, raising suspicion of official complicity in the act among people in the district.

The alleged NDC thugs, who broke into the office through the window made away with a computer, a pen drive, containing vital electoral data and some other vital documents, after breaking into the drawer of the district electoral officer.

An attempt by the thugs to break into the safer at the office, as well as the store, where ballot papers of the December 7 and 8 general elections are being kept, was however said to have proved futile.

Emmanuel Gyinae, the Asuogyaman District Electoral Officer, Wednesday confirmed the raid when the New Statesman contacted him on phone.

He was, however, not prepared to answer any other question insisting: “I don’t want to make any further comment on phone.”

Also, when contacted on phone, the District Commander of Police, DSP Reginald Osei, said no incident of raid at the office of the EC had been reported to this command.

Residents of the area suspect a foul play in the raid, with sources at the EC’s office and the Asuogyaman District Assembly claiming that the incident happened on the same day the EC’s security man, one Mr Asimani, was said to have told a colleague that he would not be at post because he was sick.

Our information indicates the security man was actually not at post when the raid occurred.

According to the results of the December 7 and 8 elections declared by the EC, the NDC’s Presidential Candidate, John Dramani Mahama won the Asuogyaman Constituency with 21, 777, even though the party’s Parliamentary Candidate who was beaten by the NPP candidate, obtained 18,110.

There is suspicion that the results of the presidential election in the constituency were manipulated to favour John Mahama.

Source: thestatesmanonline.com