NPP members invoke curses on Ivorians crossing border to register

Members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Dormaa Central in the Brong Ahafo Region, have asked the gods of their ancestors to strike anyone who crosses the Ivorian border to take part in the ongoing voter registration. Badukrom is the Ghanaian town which shares border with neighbouring Ivory Coast and it is being alleged that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is busing hundreds of people to cross the border to register ahead of the Novembers polls. Following the allegations , constituency executives in the area petitioned the gods on Wednesday , calling on them to deal with any non-Ghanaian who cross the border to register. They specifically called the gods of the deadly Kumor river , which serves as a boundary between the two countries to kill or drown any Ivorian who crosses the border to register.

They further asked the gods to also deal with persons who attempt to bus people from Ivory Coast to come and register . After the traditional act, the party will proceed to Ivorian communities to inform them about the curse in order to put fear in them .

Speaking on Atinka AM Drive with Kwame Adinkra on Friday, the NPP Constituency Organiser, Seth Asare denied that they had invoked curses on people who attempt to cross the border to register but explained, “We only summoned recalcitrant people to our ancestors,” .

He further explained that prior to the registration exercise, executives of the NPP met the chiefs and elders of the various border communities into countries to educate them on who qualifies to take part in the current exercise in order to prevent ‘naturally born’ Ivorians from crossing the border to register .

 “After educating and informing them about who qualifies to register, we proceeded to the next stage by calling on our ancestors to deal with those who flout the law . We did that because there will definitely be people who will ignore our concerns and proceed to cross the border to register,” he said.

 'This is no problem at all; if you are a Ghanaian, come and register. If you a bonafide Ivorian and you cross the border to register, our ancestors must deal with you.This is straightforward!” he argued. The NDC Constituency secretary , Michael Kyeremah denied the allegation that his party was busing Ivorians to Badukrom to register.

He laughed off claims that the NPP executives had invoked curses on foreigners who try to register, explaining that they are Ghanaians who are living just across the border and that they have the right to vote.

 He added that the NPP is being hypocritical since they have elected party executives in many of the border towns in Ghana as well as Côte d'Ivoire. According to Kyeremeh, invoking curses on people is bad and an archaic practice and therefore expressed surprise that the NPP is employing such tactics in these modern times .