Arrest Richard Ahiagbah for electoral fraud – NDC Volta Regional Executives to Police
The Volta Regional Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have called on the Ghana Police Service to arrest the Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah for breaching the country’s electoral laws.
Mr Ahiagbah, despite admitting to not finding his name in the voter register for the Ketu South constituency, was allowed to cast his ballot in the 2020 general election.
The NDC’s calls follow the arrest of a leading member of the Movement for Change, Hopeson Adorye, regarding claims that he detonated dynamites in the Volta Region during the 2016 General Elections.
Speaking to TV3 the Volta Regional Secretary, James Gunu, said just like Hopeson Adorye, Richard Ahiagba must also be arrested for engaging in electoral fraud.
He said the police must not only arrest but also investigate all the allegations to ensure electoral justice.
“Richard Ahiagbah a stalwart of the NPP confessed though he was not a registered voter in 2020 elections he voted that is another confession and that is criminal just as the throwing of dynamites. Now Hopeson has been arrested and granted bail, but we cannot leave the other person who has confessed because we cannot live in a selective justice system.
“If Hopseson Adorye is guilty, Richard Ahiagbah is equally guilty of electoral fraud and I expect the Ghana Police Service to pick him up and investigate him because he personally confessed this,” he stated.
Ahiagbah admits missing name
Mr. Ahiagbah had dismissed the allegations of double registration, indicating that he had been a registered voter in the Ketu South constituency since 2000.
“My citizenship and sonship of Ketu South are well-known to the NDC agent who challenged my eligibility today,” he wrote on X after the incident.
Speaking on TV3’s Weekend Central on Sunday, May 12, Richard Ahiagbah noted that he had visited the polling station to register based on the advice from Electoral Commission officials to take advantage of the 2024 limited voter registration after his name was missing in the register.
“I got registered in 2020 I have my voter ID to that effect and on the day I registered in Ketu South at the same registration centre I went to yesterday, I went with my entire family so all of them had the card, I got mine. On the day of the election, I took them to vote and somehow their names were in the register and mine was not in it.
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“I reached out to the district director of elections, and then he through a process indicated that something may have happened and authorised that I vote. And during the 2023 limited voter registration, I went to the Volta regional office at the instance of the regional director to verify that my name was in the register…it came out that my name was not in the register,” he explained.
He further indicated that he revisited the registration centre to verify his name but still could not find his name in the voter album.
“I went to same registration centre to verify the same thing and they didn’t find my name in the register…so the advice from the registration centre to me was that wait and take advantage of the registration window in 2024, which I did yesterday.
“So there is no basis whatsoever, one, to claim that I was doing double registration, two, that I was not a resident of the place because since 2000 I have been registering and voting in the Ketu South at a particular polling station since I turned 18.”
“There cannot be a basis for anyone to claim I am undertaking a double registration; it was a frivolous challenge yesterday and it was needless,” he stated.
