Security has been beefed up in Akuse as residents of Manya Krobo have vowed to prevent the elections from taking place in six disputed electoral areas. In anticipation of violence, the police have deployed armoured vehicles in the area to forestall any tragedy. The root of the crisis is linked to new district demarcations which placed the six electoral areas in question under the Dangme West District, instead of the Lower Manya Krobo District where they have always belonged. Even though the offices of the Electoral Comission (EC) in the Lower Manya Krobo District remains locked, a dependable source has indicated that preparations are far advanced for the conduct of the elections in the six disputed electoral areas at Akuse today, amidst growing tension. Meanwhile the Supreme Court has granted an injunction to restrain the EC from conducting the elections in the district following the filing of an order of interim injunction to that effect jointly by Mr Charles Mate-Korle and Nene Kwesitsu Azago, representing the Manya Krobo Traditional Council, against the EC and the Attorney General The plaintitfs have also filed a writ in the same court challenging the legality of L.I. 1983 on which the EC is relying to conduct the elections at Akuse. Officially, parts of the Lower Manya Krobo District, namely, the Zongo New Town, Akutue, Osukutu, Bungalow, Amedeka and Salon Electoral areas have recently been realigned to the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region by a parliamentary sub-Legislation Committee, acting on the Local Government (Creation of New District Electoral Areas and Designation of Units) Instrument, 2010 (L.I. 1983). In November 2010, following the release of the registration documents by EC officials in the Manya Krobo District, irate youth in the district forcibly locked the offices of the EC, located at Agormanya, leading to the inability of officials of the commission to process the nomination of the rest of the candidates for the elections. Until Monday, when an official statement was released from the traditional council to restrain the people from any violent act, the youth had been gearing up for a showdown in Akuse to disrupt the elections. The statement, which was issued after an extraordinary emergency meeting at the paramountcy chaired by the Konor (Paramount Chief) Nene Sakite II, said, "It is the position of the house that in order not to fall foul of the law, it will be in our own interest not to engage in any acts which will put us in contempt of the law or order we are invoking." All the divisional and sub-chiefs have since been directed to restrain their subjects from any form of demonstration at Akuse. "We advise that all persons in the district, particularly Akuse, who are sympathetic to the cause Manya Krobo should remain calm for the law to take its cause," it added." "The elections would be conducted in the area, now considered part of the Dangme West District," the source disclosed. Source: Daily Graphic