Police probe fire that destroyed Ablekuma North electoral materials
The Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service are investigating a fire outbreak that ravaged parts of the Kwashieman Cluster of Schools in Accra in the early hours of yesterday.
The fire destroyed the ballot boxes of the December 7, 2024, presidential and parliamentary elections for the Ablekuma North Constituency.
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The public cluster of basic schools is where the ballot boxes of the elections for the Ablekuma North Constituency were being kept.
The results of that constituency’s parliamentary contest are part of the few still in dispute, with the Electoral Commission (EC) announcing an intention to re-collate the results of the parliamentary election in the constituency.
The police, in a statement issued yesterday, said any individual or group of individuals found responsible for the incident would face justice.
“We urge the public to remain calm as investigation into the incident continues,” the statement from the police said.
There have been concerns about whether evidence of the true winner of the parliamentary election has been destroyed by the fire.
Visit
Armed policemen were stationed at the entrance of the schools’ compound yesterday when the Daily Graphic visited the scene of the fire incident.
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The cluster of schools has been walled, with barbed wires fixed on top of the wall.
Around 1.30 p.m. yesterday, the three-storey block, which was destroyed by the fire, had been cordoned off by the police.
The schools were not in session yesterday as authorities looked for a quick solution to complete the term’s academic work.
The Ablekuma North Municipal Director of Education, Perry Ofori, told the Daily Graphic via telephone that because of the fire incident, the pupils and students were asked to go home.
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He said the building that was gutted by the fire had a total learner population of about 1,200 comprised of primary and two junior high schools (JHSs).
He added that the primary school pupils had finished with their end-of-term examination, while the JHS students could not write the day’s paper yesterday because they were asked to go home.
Mr Ofori said an alternative arrangement had been made for the JHS students to write their last paper today before the schools would vacate tomorrow.
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He said the building that was destroyed by the fire contained the library and the ICT laboratory where the ballot boxes were kept.
Eyewitnesses
Some residents who live around the school, including a bicycle repairer, told the Daily Graphic that the fire incident started around 10 p.m. last Monday.
One resident said this was the first time the ballot boxes had been sent to the Kwashieman Cluster of Schools, insisting that in 2020, the ballot boxes were kept at the Presbyterian Church.
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Fire service
A member of the Public Relations Directorate of the Greater Accra Command of the Ghana National Fire Service, Assistant Divisional Fire Officer (ADFO), Alex King Nartey, told the Daily Graphic that investigations were underway to ascertain the cause of the fire.
He indicated that no arrest had been made so far.
He said they received the call to attend to the fire at 12.30 a.m. yesterday, and arrived at the scene at 12.40 a.m. and finally put out the fire at 4 a.m. after it had engulfed the three-storey building where the election materials had been kept on the ground floor.
Mr Nartey said when the fire team arrived at the scene, some of the thumb-printed ballot papers had been burnt behind the school block.
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He said they suspected that someone might have picked those thumb-printed ballots and set them ablaze with a car tyre.
He stated that if investigations revealed that it was an act of arson, they would hand the matter over to the police.
Post-election violence
Meanwhile, the police statement further stated that the 132 suspects arrested across the country in connection with the post-election disturbances were still going through due process of the law.
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It said out of the number, 45 suspects had been remanded in custody, 71 were on police enquiry bail, and 16 were on court bail.