Over 2,000 registered Ghanaian voters living in neighbouring Togo, including many cross-border workers, have been prevented from entering Ghana to cast their votes yesterday. This is because of the decision by the authorities of the two countries to close their land border at Aflao. Even though the Togolese Minister for Security, Colonel Mohammed Atcha Titikpina, told newsmen in Lome that the closure of the land borders with Ghana at midnight last Friday was meant to prevent illegal voters from influencing the polls in Ghana, this has not gone down well with the stranded Ghanaians. Some of the aggrieved and disenfranchised Ghanaians who pledged support mainly for the ruling New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Congress blamed the Togolese authorities for taking a hasty decision to close the borders at mid-night last Friday instead of the scheduled Saturday. They also blamed the Togolese authorities for unilaterally closing the borders at Aflao preventing several Ghanaian cross-border workers who shuttle between Ghana and Togo on daily basis from crossing. At the time of filing this story, several distress calls had been received from some of the disfranchised Ghanaians who c1aimed that some of their colleagues had been arrested by the Ghanaian and Togolese security forces while trying out of desperation to enter Ghana through unapproved routes to cast their votes. "This is unfair and we protest vehemently against the arrests," they complained. It has been the official policy of the Togolese authorities since the era of the late President Gnassingbe Eyadema to resort to the closure of land borders at Aflao anytime Ghana was holding elections. According to official sources Togo often closed its borders with Ghana in order to avoid being accused of helping to influence the outcome of polls in Ghana. The action also left several hundreds of ECOWAS travellers stranded. A visit to the Togo side of the Aflao border early this morning s1owed several heavy duty articulated trucks and passenger buses on their way to Ghana stranded in Lome. Several traders, businessmen, market mummies, mothers carrying babies on their backs and others travelling from Nigeria, the Republic of Benin and Togo sat gloomily behind their luggage. The Togolese officials said the move followed rumours that some unidentified persons were planning to cross the border from Togo into Ghana to illegally take part in the polls. Oscar Odilin, a Nigerian Trader, complained "I am a Nigerian trader bringing goods from Lagos through Lome, Accra to Cote d'Ivoire. Now because of the border closure I’m stranded here with my goods. They must allow the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Goods and Persons to work". "This is not normal: You cannot close the borders before 6,00 p.m. local time because we have cross-border workers who live in Aflao Ghana but work in Togo. When they close from work, they must go back home at Aflao in Ghana. This border closure is not normal unless there are special security reasons", complained Yaw Donkor, a shoe-shine boy who plies between Ghana and Togo. "I am angry. Because of the sudden border closure, I have lost my right to vote in Aflao where I was registered as a voter", said Kwame Gyan another Ghanaian. The Ghanaians also criticised the Togolese authorities for contravening recent ECOWAS directives that advised all member states to keep their borders open at all times to facilitate the free movement of persons and goods in the sub-region. Credit: Ebo Godwin, Lome Source: Daily Graphic