2020 elections will see worse vigilantism activities – Dr Kingsley Adjei

Political and security analyst and Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Dr. Kingsley Adjei has predicted that worse cases of vigilantism will occur during the general elections in December 2020, if care is not taken.

He made the statement in reaction to recent security issues that have emerged during the Electoral Commission’s voter’s registration exercise, as well as some occurrences in the recently held the NPP primaries.

“2020 will see worse vigilantism activities and what is happening right now is a precursor to what is going to happen in the 2020 elections. The reason I say this is that you are talking about the Electoral Commission, the Electoral Commission at best can be fair, that’s all,” he said in an interview with GhanaWeb on July 22, 2020.

According to Dr Adjei, some of the contributing factors to the violence in the on-going voters registration include the activity of some politicians moving voters from centers they initially registered at, to completely new centers in order to increase their chances of winning in those centers during elections.

“Apart from the registration that is going on, within the registration why they are fighting is that, there are two major things, one is busing people from different areas, to come and register at areas where candidates feel their support is low. And then the border issues, those at the borders also bussing people from outside the country to come and register and it is from both parties. At any time, anywhere these things have happened, it has resulted into conflict,” he stated.

He concluded that the ‘winner takes all’ form of governance in the country has given rise to vigilantism, as supporters from the various parties will do anything within their power to ensure their party remains in power.

“The reason the declaration of results could become very contentious is that we are practicing what we call a winner takes all system, if the NPP wins, it means the NDC will remain in opposition for another four years, if the NDC wins, what it means is that the NPP will have to pack their bag and baggage into oblivion,” he stated.