The Parliamentary candidate of the NDC in the Ketu South Constituency and a queen-mother in the Aflao Traditional Area, Abla Dzifa Gomashie (Mamma Dzramedo I) has reacted to the Defense Minister’s comments that military deployment is a nationwide exercise and not targeted at the NDC’s strongholds.
According to her, there is evidence to show that the exercise is focused on disenfranchising many people in the region.
At a press briefing in Accra on Monday, Defense Minister, Dominic Nitiwul said the deployments were made as far back as March 30, to help the immigration service ensure compliance to the border restrictions.
“What we are doing is to make the people of Ghana safe by blocking all the unapproved routes and as long as our borders are closed, it is our duty as a government to ensure that Ghanaians are safe,” he said.
The comments by the Defense minister were re-echoed by the Volta Regional Minister, Dr.Archibald Letsa, in a previous episode of the Happy Morning Show where he also disclosed that the deployment of the military at the borders was a national exercise to stop the illegal entry of foreigners amid COVID-19 and not an exercise targeted at disenfranchising residents in the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) stronghold.
However, Dzifa Gomashie on the same show today told Samuel Eshun, “I take that with a pinch of salt and the evidence does not support what he is saying. If amongst the NPP, the message that they are giving to us is different, he should tell me who I should believe. Is it because he is the minister of Defence so I should believe him and not his colleague”.
She explained that the exercise will not only be disenfranchising people but it will also affect their economic activity with the neighbouring country, Togo.
She told host Samuel Eshun, “Let me speak emphatically that the situation is different. We are the only community that has proximity to the capital city of another country.There is no other border other than Ketu in the whole world that within a minute or second, I am in another country.
Our children go to school there and the children from Togo come to school here. Even common ‘Ademe’; a leafy green plant which is a staple of our people, we buy it from Togo. If I tell my girl to cook for me, in two seconds she will be in Togo and she will come with it. Our lives and our economic activity depends on this community.
So you cannot use, for example, Paga and Burkina to compare. I have personally driven to that community before and it took me a long time to go from Paga to Burkina Faso. So you cannot compare the two or three things. We are saying that because of the geographical location and the proximity, it is different”.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
