Electoral Violence: Condemnation is not Enough

Ghana’s 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections did not turn out to be peaceful in some constituencies as generally expected. I read press statements of stakeholders including President Akufo-Addo’s victory speech after he was declared the winner of the presidential polls. “We condemn,” “I condemn” has been the common denominator in their speeches and statements.

Five people were killed in the just ended election-linked violence, police said on Wednesday in what it described as separate incidents that occurred since the morning of Monday’s presidential and parliamentary vote. The Ghana Police Service said it recorded over 60 incidents. “Twenty-one of the incidents are true cases of electoral violence, six of which involve gunshots resulting in the death of five,” it said.

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Thank God, the prosecution of the perpetrators of violence during these elections has begun. The gunmen who shot Pius Asiedu at the collation of elections results at the Ablekuma Central collation center in Accra around 2:30 am on Tuesday, December 8 would be appearing in court today. While I am in a high spirit of trust in our judges, I look forward to receiving positive feedback on the prosecution.

It is not enough for stakeholders to condemn, this is the time Peace Council, Christian Council, Civil Society Organizations among other interest bodies collectively or separately launch an investigation into the cases and sue parties liable for the violence caused.

Two persons were injured at Awutu Senya East, two were shot dead at Techiman South, the Odododiodo constituency recorded two deaths, Savelugu constituency recorded one death among other injuries. It is with great pain to see people lost their lives during the election and we cannot bring all the perpetrators before justice.

Over the past years, I hardly saw Government or Civil Society Organizations taking a keen interest in dealing with perpetrators, I do not see any difference this year. All we do is to go release press statements, go on the radio and TV, express our opinions and there it ends. We pretend as if we care but it is all fake.

By this article, I call on all election-related stakeholders to go outside of their comfort zone and take actions that will put fear in election violence perpetrators. The press statements are not enough.

By Nii Marmah Boye

The writer of this article is a Producer with Class 91.3FM

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