The Second Vice Chairman for Suame Constituency of New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr Richard Asante, has called on the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of Ghana Police Service (GPS) to arrest officials of the Electoral Commission (EC) who registered the 66 persons suspected to be citizens of Ivory Coast.
The suspected Ivorians managed to appear in the Bono region and subsequently registered in the Banda Constituency for the new voters Identity cards.
According to him, the agents for both National Democratic Congress (NDC) and NPP should also be arrested for their omission to act towards apprehending such persons when they appeared for the registration.
Speaking to the media, Mr Asante disclosed that both EC officials and the agents should be charged with abetment contrary to section 20 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act (Act 29) since their names only could have alerted them that they are foreigners.
“The EC officials and the agents, who went for training before commencement of such registration exercise, ought to have suspected that such persons are non Ghanaians after hearing names like Kwaku Kwabena, and Kofi Kwadwo” Mr Asante said.
According to him, for fair administration of justice , the officials and the agents should be prosecuted same for rendering assistance to persons believed to be the ‘Ivorians’
Abetor in law, he said, is a person who directly or indirectly aids or assists in the commissioning of a crime” .Mr Asante said
The abetors, he said , can be prosecuted before, with or after the prosecution of persons who committed the substantive offence.
According to him, when found guilty, the officials as well as the agents, shall be punished as if they committed the substantive offence.
The Vice Chairman said it will be legally wrong if only the suspected Ivorians are prosecuted without the EC officials and the agents, who assisted them for such a successful act.
