AG indicted in handling electoral violence cases

Stakeholders at a workshop in Sunyani have expressed worry at the rate at which the Attorney General’s Department delays in acting on election-related violence, saying it is a recipe for future disaster if such attitude does not change.

According to them, the delay encourages more people to engage in election violence because nothing is done to people who had previously engaged in such acts.

This came to light at the Zonal Stakeholders’ Workshop organised by CDD-Ghana with support from the Open Society Initiative For West Africa(OSIWA) to present the final report dissemination, lessons learned and advocacy reforms in the 2012 presidential and parliamentary polls.

It was attended by Regional Police Commanders from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and Brong Ahafo regions; the Ashanti Regional Commander could not make it. NGOs, CBOs, CHRAJ and traditional rulers were also present.

ACP Simon Afeku, the Upper East Regional Police Commander, who represented the Inspector General of Police, said the Attorney General’s Department must not delay on its advise on election-related violence cases because it could jeopardise the peace in future elections in the country.

ACP Afeku called for stiffer punishment for people engaged in electoral violence to serve as a deterrent to others from engaging in such acts before, during and after elections in the country.

He said the attitude put up by the Attorney General’s Department is discouraging the police from investigating election-related violence. He said maintaining peace in the country is a collective responsibility, and therefore called on Ghanaians to help maintain peace in the country.

Mr Ernest Ansah-Lartey, of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), who presented the findings of the CDD in 40 constituencies in the 2012 elections, identified the defacing of political posters as a major act that took place during the period that they conducted their research. In all, a total of 416 incidents were recorded across the 40 constituencies.

Mr Ansah-Lartey called on political parties to seek proper permission before they paste their posters. He said CDD would continue to educate the citizenry to reduce electoral violence.

He said minor incidents should be viewed as sources of electoral violence, and called for dialogue among political actors to minimise their occurrence and impact.

Ambassador Francis Tsegah, a Senior Fellow, CDD-Ghana, who chaired the workshop, called for the orientation for all Ghanaians, especially among children.