The tension in the 2020 polls is higher than the previous elections – Peace Council

Politics of Thursday, October 15, 2020

Source: Starr FM

2020-10-15

The National Peace Council (APN) has noted that the tension associated with the upcoming 2020 general elections is like no other since 1992 in the country and attributed the rarity of the unrest to the fact that two of the contenders in the race for the House of the Jubilee I have already had the “pleasant” taste of power.

“We have been through elections before and we have come out clean. In all those elections that we passed there was tension. But if we look at the 2020 elections, there seems to be more tension than any of the past elections. Why? Because of the two main parties, we have people who have tried the seat before and know what it means to sit in that seat. So everyone’s eyes are wide open. It is creating a lot of tension in the country.

“But let me tell you that we only have this country that belongs to us. At least most of us have crossed over to Burkina Faso and seen how we were forced to behave. Seriously, you should behave when you cross the border even as a security man. Now imagine going there as a refugee, what it is going to be like. And for this reason and many more, we want to appeal to the parties so that we come out clean. I mean, there have been winners and losers in the elections and the winners have taken over smoothly and the losers have delivered smoothly. It’s not the first time. We have done it several times. This should be no different than what we have done before. But it seems that the stakes are too high this time, ”said NPC Upper East Regional President Alhaji Sumaila Issaka.

The council recorded this observation on Wednesday in the Upper East region in an ongoing event called “Advocacy Campaign for Eradication of Vigilantism in Ghana.” Organized by the council, the program is funded by the Danish Embassy and supported by the Government of Ghana. Several interested parties attend. These include political parties, the Electoral Commission (EC), the Ghana Police Service, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), and civil society organizations.

“A stray bullet does not discriminate” – NPC concerned about gun violence

There have been incidents of gun violence in Ghana and arrests for firearms smuggling into the country have made headlines of late with less than eight weeks to go to the polls.

The APN also expressed fears in the event that vigilantism and gun violence, if not thoroughly controlled now, could lead to an overall low turnout on December 7.

“Tell me, who would go to vote if they see or perceive that violence is likely to occur, that in the electoral college someone is likely to go with an AK-47? Sometimes you may not be the target, but a stray bullet doesn’t discriminate. And that’s what will make people afraid to vote. As stakeholders, we consider this to be essential in our work so that all of our efforts are not wasted.

“As political parties, let’s see that when we can reduce incidents of violence, we are actually campaigning for more people to come out and vote for us. All the institutions involved, please let us know that if we are able to reduce violence in our elections, we can tell anyone that we have achieved some successes in our work, we can point to the 2020 general elections as our achievement ”, the Alto regional secretary East NPC Ali Anankpieng told the participants.

Delivering a presentation titled “The Roadmap to Eradicate Political Vigilantism in Ghana” at the event, a member of the National Peace Council Board, Shaibu Abubakar, stressed the need for the government to carry out a in-depth study on arms control and management in the country.

“We need to take these problems seriously: the avalanche of armed robberies. The MP who just lost his life, the MPs’ cry for police protection and all of that probably wouldn’t have been necessary if people were doing things right.

“Almost every day, armed robbers attack us here in this region. Nobody talks about it. People die almost all the time or every day because those guys (armed robbers) have something in their hands that they use to carry out their [operations]. There are other underlying factors, ”he emphasized.

The government praises the Peace Council

The roadmap document presented in the program highlights a series of measures proposed to ensure that the upcoming elections are not marred by violence.

They include, among other recommendations, that political parties “take the necessary measures to ensure that their members refrain from vigilantism activities, cooperate with law enforcement agencies, refraining from protecting their members who violate laws that govern vigilantism, affirm and sign the political party’s code of conduct on political vigilantism during a public function organized by the APN with the assistance of the media, continually sensitizing and educating its members on the dangers of vigilantism.

The roadmap document also outlines a series of recommendations regarding the roles that the police, the Attorney General’s Department, the NCCE, the EC and the media, among other stakeholders, should play at the polls. The Higher Regional Coordinating Council (UERCC) commended the APN for proposing the event as part of the concerted efforts being made in the region to ensure a 2020 elections without violence.

“Let me congratulate the Regional Peace Council [a branch of the NPC in the region] for the initiative of a regional awareness and promotion platform on an important national law such as the Surveillance and Related Crimes Law of 2019 (Law 999). The implementation of any new law, like this one, will be facilitated when key stakeholders are informed about its content and the expected roles of stakeholders. Awareness of this nature is even more critical given that Ghanaians will go to the polls in less than two months and the call for attention is for the peace and security of the nation ”, the regional minister of the Upper East commented in a speech, Tangoba Abayage. read on his behalf by a deputy director of the UERCC, Michael Awuni.

In addition to the roadmap document, other facilitators presented other documents regarding the impending elections. These are the Code of Conduct for Political Parties, the Surveillance and Related Crimes Law of 2019 (Law 999), Early Warning Signs and Critical Points to Watch, Implementation of the Action Plan and Training of the Monitoring Team. Video clips taken of scenes of electoral violence recorded in some parts of the country in recent times were also projected on a screen at the event to reinforce the APN’s position against election-related violence.