A viral video of a man invoking traditional deities against anyone who defies a court injunction has escalated tension in Bantama, a day after violence disrupted the constituency’s NPP election.
In the video, posted online Saturday night, a man identifying himself as Kwame Poku breaks an egg and pours schnapps while invoking traditional deities, including Antoa and Akonedi, and calling for punishment on anyone who proceeds with the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Bantama constituency executive election in defiance of a reported court injunction.
The video follows Saturday’s disruption of the same election at the Kumasi Cultural Centre, where a group of men destroyed ballot boxes and papers and assaulted officials overseeing the vote. One officer suffered a foot injury and was treated at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Police arrested three people, including the constituency organiser, and declared the venue a crime scene.
A Kumasi High Court injunction had already put the election on uncertain footing before the violence. Judge Aberinga Anafo George granted a 10 day order sought by three party members who said long serving delegates had been dropped from the constituency’s register and replaced with unapproved names. The order named constituency chairman Fiifi Mensah among the respondents, restraining officials from proceeding with the vote.
The dispute traces back to a clash weeks earlier at the constituency office, where Mensah accused Bantama Member of Parliament Francis Asenso-Boakye of assembling a team to alter the delegate album in favour of preferred candidates, a claim Asenso-Boakye has not publicly addressed. Mensah has said he locked up the office’s album records to stop further changes while the matter was resolved. “If the elections are free, fair, and peaceful, whoever wins deserves the victory,” he said.
A day after the violence, a group calling itself Concerned Bantama Youth petitioned the Ashanti Regional Police Command for tighter security ahead of any resumption of voting. The group said Mensah should be treated as a person of interest only if investigations link him to any future violence, stressing it was not assigning blame in advance.
The Bantama vote was part of a nationwide round of NPP constituency executive elections held over the weekend at 385 centres. NPP flagbearer Mahamudu Bawumia urged unity as the process unfolded, saying the elections should strengthen the party and position it for the tasks ahead.
No charges have been announced against those arrested, and police have not commented on the video. Bantama is one of several constituencies where NPP elections this cycle have been contested in court, adding the invocation of traditional deities to a dispute already before both the police and the courts.
