The Volta Regional House of Chiefs has raised concerns over what
they say is the increasing rate of military deployment in the region.
According to the chiefs, the military presence is causing
fear among residents of the region as the country nears the December 7
presidential and parliamentary polls.
Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Thursday, Vice
President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs Torgbega Dekle Patamia said
earlier assurances by government to withdraw the soldiers before the elections
have not been fulfilled.
“Election is not a do and die
affair. After all, it comes every four years. We should stop intimidating our
people so they live their normal lives. We have done registration, election and
we have not seen this sort of military and their hardware. Are we at war? We
had a meeting with the National Security Minister and as usual, what he said
was, we’ll look into it. But nothing has been done,” he said.
Reacting to the concern, deputy
Defense Minister Major (retired) Derick Oduro said the soldiers have been
deployed to the region for a reason.
“It’s not true that people are
being intimidated. This is not the first time security is being deployed before
election, during, and after election to the Volta Region. Generally speaking,
every step taken by the national security is taken in the interest of the
nation and not a few. When the people in the Volta Region talk about
intimidation, they [military] don’t come to your house. They have an area of
responsibility.
“NDC has been complaining about
military deployment for a long time. We’ve military deployment at the Northern
border, Eastern and other places and they are not complaining so why is the
Volta Region complaining?”.
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