A joint Coalition of Civil Society Organisations has kicked against an alleged plan by the government to deploy the military to strongholds of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), including the Volta Region during the December 7 general elections.

The Community Focus Foundation Ghana (CFF-Ghana), Democratic Credentials Network, and Coalition of Ghanaians Without Ghana Card under Safeguarding Our Democracy Initiative, a research and democracy advocacy group, alleged the military deployment is one of the many schemes by the governing New Patriotic Party to suppress votes of the NDC in an attempt to win the upcoming elections.

The Executive Director of CFF-Ghana, Richard Kasu further stated the deployment would be done under the guise of enforcing a ban on the export of grain from Ghana following a drought experienced in the northern and middle belts, leading to crop failures.

“We consider this move as part of a grand government-sponsored scheme of ethnic profiling aimed at suppressing votes in opposition strongholds with particular attention on the Volta region.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this similar deployment took place during the 2020 elections under the pretext of enforcing COVID-19 restrictions resulting in serious voter apathy due to the intimidating tactics by the government”, he said when addressing the media in Ho.

Mr. Kasu also indicated that there has been renewed pockets of activities by the Western Togoland Group which he believes is being orchestrated and sponsored by the State.

He said the government would on the back of these activities make efforts to beef up security to curtail any act by the separatist group in the region by dispatching the military.

“We are also aware of the sponsored activities of the Western Togoland operatives. These are well-woven strategies to deploy the military to the region for intimidation purposes. Hopeson Adorye's confession lay credence to the above unpopular tactics. The question we want to ask is why is the military deployed only during the electioneering period if not for sinister motives?”, he questioned.

He also outlined that the Electoral Commission has been directed to delay the distribution of election materials to the Volta Region to delay the start of polls and consequently disenfranchise some voters.

“This we understand will make it impossible for a number of registered voters to cast their votes since they won't meet the voting schedule. This is a deep concern worth bringing to the attention of all electoral stakeholders for quick remedial action”, he stressed.

Finally, Mr. Kasu claimed that there would be power outages during ballot counting in some regions to distort the process and compromise the election results.

He therefore requested the government to publish its comprehensive security roadmap, ensure no military is deployed during the election period, ensure a stable power supply, and called on the Electoral Commission to give detailed information on the deployment of election materials.