The Commander of the Achiase Jungle Warfare School, Lt Col. Jacob Cudjoe, has come under a heavy attack from Ghanaian journalist and Human Rights activist, Graham Kofi Baldwin over a comment the journalist now describes as ‘a bogus talk’ coming from the Ghanaian Senior Military Officer.
Lt Col. Jacob Cudjoe not long ago, warned that he and his men would beat the hell out of people who intend to foment trouble during the December polls. He cautioned trouble makers to desist from such acts else the military will act decisively to maintain order.
Meanwhile, in a sharp disagreement, the media management consultant, Graham Kofi Baldwin, says comments by the soldier amount to threats on Ghana’s constitution and our young democracy.
“In any serious democracy, that guy must be put behind bars…the law allows you to perform arrests, not to go public to threaten to beat anyone on an election day…He does not have that right”.
The journalist sees these comments to be statements out of order and has called on human rights lovers to condemn the said statement and the soldier arrested and reprimanded.
According to him, the law gives the right to the Ghana Police Service to maintain law and order when it comes to internal security and in matters of elections and wondered why a whole commander of such a unit would ‘talk so loosely’. He maintains that, it is the expectation of every lover of our democracy to see the 2024 General Elections run in a peaceful manner, and that, no one has any right to speak provocatively and go scot free.
He therefore advised Lt. Col. Jacob Cudjoe to swallow back his words and let his communication fall within the confines of procedure.
“The fact that we are all calling for peace does not give any individual or group of persons the right to talk loosely without respect for human rights,” the journalist said angrily.
As Ghana prepares for the 2024 General Elections on December 7, tensions have begun building up with the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) leveling serious allegations against the ruling party and the government for planning to rig the elections in favour of Dr Mahammud Bbawumia, one of the candidates in the race.
There have been counter accusations by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) against the NDC party of plans to foment trouble on Election Day.
Stakeholders are calling for a peaceful election while maintaining that the Electoral Commission of Ghana runs the ensuing election in a transparent and fair manner that will ensure the will of the people is not undermined.
Soure: Alhaji Umarh, Accra Ghana.