GHANA- Wednesday, August 5, 2020/– The National Communications Officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has alleged that French-speaking Ghanaians are being arrested in the Oti Region.
According to him, 17 persons have been apprehended by National Security officials because they could respond to the popular French greeting, ‘Bonjour’.
He passed these comments during a press conference organised by the NDC, where the party accused government of using the security services to disenfranchise non-Akans and Ewes.
He also alleged that National Security officials stormed Kpena in the Nkwanta South of the Oti Region to round up persons who spoke fluently in French.
“They [National Security officials] went to a village called Kpena in the Nkwanta South of the Oti Region, arrested about 17 people who were in a queue waiting for their turn to register and in the process the so-called National Security operatives without any provocation fired warning shots at the registration centre thereby disrupting the entire registration exercise at the centre,” Mr. Gyamfi said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, what was the crime of these people who were arrested and molested? Their crime was that they speak French.”
The NDC’s National Communications Officer said it was unfair that languages were being used to determine a person’s citizenship.
“And so these so called National Security Operatives greeted them ‘Bonjour’ and asked them a few questions in the French language and they responded.
“Once they were able to respond in the French language, they concluded that they’re Togolese and not Ghanaians and so in Akufo-Addo’s Ghana today, citizenship is proved by the foreign languages you are able to speak,” he added.
This development comes after Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul dismissed claims by the NDC that the military are intimidating registrants in the Volta region.
The ongoing voter registration exercise its in the last phase and scheduled to end on August 6, 2020. Although there have been a number of challenges and violence at some registration centres, the Electoral Commission says the exercise has been a fruitful one thus far.
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I’m Deborah Aba Narkoah. I’m an avid reader, writer and public speaker.
