Mr John-Peter Amewu, Minister for Energy and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Candidate (PC) for the Hohoe Constituency, has condemned allegations levelled against him as violent.
“I want to put it on record that I am not violent, but a man of peace and for the people.
“I don’t promote violence and condemn any violent incident that has occurred, there is the need to calm nerves and project the Constituency.” Mr. Amewu said this when he interacted with the media after registering at the Gbi-Bla Roman Catholic (R.C) Primary (3) registration centre in the Hohoe Municipality.
He said although he sent calls out to citizens outside the Constituency to come home and register, it could not be termed as bussing people.
“I made a potential call on citizens living outside the Constituency to come home and register and exercise their democratic enfranchising rights.
“The call was honestly made and warmly received by the constituents and was done in accordance to the regulatory framework that allowed eligible voters to register and vote.”
He described the ongoing voter registration in the Municipality as peaceful despite few skirmishes. The PC called on the youth to eschew all forms of violent activities and use the appropriate dispute resolution processes.
Mr Joseph Homenya, Regional Secretary of NPP, told the Ghana News Agency the isolated cases of misunderstandings cannot be used to describe the conduct of the registration exercise in the Region as bad.
He added that officials at the registration centres including party agents have not been lined with the authority to determine the eligibility of any applicant, the reason challenge forms were provided by the Electoral Commission for use in such instances.
He urged party agents to refrain from such acts, which could the breeding platform for violent engagements and appealed to the agents to calm nerves and be circumspect on the matter.
Mr. Randy Adzato-Ntem, Registration Officer at the Centre, disclosed that a total of 28 people had successfully registered, adding that the Centre had not recorded any incident of faulty Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) machines nor rise in temperature.
Mr. Amewu was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Sesinam Amewu who also went through the registration process successfully.
GNA
