Ayawaso West Wuogon looked like Afghanistan – Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama has expressed disappointment in his successor, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for describing the violence during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election as an “isolated incident”.

He said if the president had borne the brunt of the violence, he would not have described the events as such.

The former president was commenting on the incident in an interview on Accra-based Radio Gold. Despite the widely condemned violence, President Akufo-Addo had congratulated the winner, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, in a statement.

The three-time leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had described events during the by-elections as isolated.

The violence during the January 31 by-election led to gunshots fired, particularly around the residence of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate.

Gunshots were fired at the residence of Delali Kwasi Brempong, whose party withdrew from the by-elections A scuffle at the La Bawaleshie Presbyterian Polling Station involving uniformed men said to be National Security Council operatives has received nationwide condemnation.

The masked men are believed to be trained militia of the NPP. They attacked all manner of persons including Member of Parliament of Ningo Prampram Constituency Sam Nartey George.

“It looked like Afghanistan,” Mr Mahama said in the interview on Friday. “You can’t believe this is Ghana.”

The former president had already met with the diplomatic community to apprise them of how events unfolded at Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.

He said the issues have to be dealt with immediately.

This comes a day after President Akufo-Addo called on the leadership of both the NPP and the NDC to meet to voluntarily disband all militias within their folds.

Akufo-Addo wants NPP, NDC to disband vigilante groups or else… He said the security agencies will be on stand-by for an outcome of the meeting.

The president at the delivery of his State of the Nation address on Thursday said he will initiate a legislation on the matter if the parties are not able to come out with a feasible resolution.