As Ghana heads to the polls in December 2024 for the 9th consecutive time since 1992, FOSDA is concerned about the rising cases of gun violence and proliferation of the small arms in the country. Election related gun violence is set to pose a critical threat to the integrity and peaceful conduct of the 2024 elections if not checked 2024.
FOSDA is concerned that electoral gun violence is becoming a common phenomenon and gradually gaining a foothold in Ghana’s electoral activities. In 2012, 7 various reports of electoral gun violence were made leading to the temporal halting of the Biometric Voter Registration exercise in some places. For 2016, an online dossier documented the aftermath of the general elections featuring a litany of gun related electoral violence. Likewise, the electoral activities following the 2020 general elections were not free from gun violence; including the 2019 Ayawaso Wuogon by-election gun violence leading to 18 injuries; gunshots leading to disruption in registration process in Awutu Senya East Constituency in the Central Region; gunshots at the Modark Hotel and the Constituency Collation Centre in Odododiodio Constituency in the Greater Accra region are among the many gun related incidents reported by the Election Security Report of 2020. These background goes to demonstrate the depth of gun violence in Ghana’s electoral processes.
Inspite of these worrying trends gun violence in general and electoral gun violence in particular continues to feature in major disturbances. Between June 2022 to the 3rd quarter of 2024 FOSDAs’ media monitoring had shown that gun violence contributes close to 30% of all violence on quarterly basis. One would have expected that following the passage of the Vigilantism and Related Offence Act in 2019, the drivers of electoral gun violence could be controlled, but the situation has been quite different. Recently, politicians have rather been at the front of gun related incidents for either brandishing or acquiring guns for the sole reason to intimidate or protect against their opponents while others have been targets of rumored assassination attempts. Additionally, resurfacing of the unresolved chieftaincy disputes in Bawku has sparked recent gun attacks with an estimated 9 adjoining constituencies risking violence ahead of the December elections.
Taking the aforementioned into account, one has no choice but the question the effectiveness of the legal regime to control the proliferation and or possession of arms in Ghana especially when its possession is only by privilege. It is therefore not difficult to assume that there is currently a serious arms proliferation at hand considering the growing dense report of gun violence throughout the country.
Nonetheless, Ghana has enacted a number of legislations to curb the proliferation of small arms and light weapons including the notable Arms and Ammunitions Act, 1962 (Act 118); Arms and Ammunitions Decree of 1972. At the international level, the United Nations Programme of Action on Small Arms and the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms are just two of the numerous international agreements and treaties that Ghana has ratified. While these laws aim to prohibit arms manufacturing, assembling, ammunitions, there are clauses that foster possession, registrations and renewal of licensing. Indeed some scholars have argued that “In spite of the above legal and regulatory regime, Ghana’s gun-related laws are blatantly flouted due to ineffective monitoring mechanisms.” It is therefore not surprising that there are mixed reports on the actual number of unregistered arms in civilian possession. Perhaps this could be one of the enablers of the rising gun violence being experienced in the country.
The threat of violence through gun violence in the lead up to the elections is worrying since the record shows that the phenomenon could intimidate potential voters on election day and deter the peaceful conduct of the elections as seen in the immediate past.
Ghana’s foremost state actor in Arms Control and Disarmament (National Commission on Small Arms) has since inception made significant efforts to control the proliferation of small arms. Public education on the psychological effects of arms possession; law enforcement; weapons marking to aid traceability; sensitization of sister security agencies in controlling arms trafficking; as well as collaborating with civil society to continuously demonstrate the negative impacts of arms possession and use.
While these initiatives represent a mix of short, medium to long term arms control measures they have largely not prevented the gun proliferation problem. Deepening intelligence in arms monitoring systems and reviewing Ghana Arms Laws appear to be ongoing and long-term measures to adapt.
At this critical moment, there is no better time to call for owners of arms to desist and refrain from any form of gun related confrontations. This can only be made possible by building peace and resorting to dialogue and negotiations.