Election 2020: Probe violence to forestall chaos in future elections – UN Peace Ambassador

The United Nations Peace Ambassador in Ghana Dr Bishop Sam Owusu has condemned the pockets of violence that characterized the just-ended presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana.

He has asked the state and the Police administration to investigate the cause of the violence and punish the culprits to serve as a deterrent to others who will want to foment troubles in future elections.

The Country Director of the International Association of World Peace Advocates noted that if these matters are left unresolved, it could embolden others to cause chaos and mayhem in future elections on a grand scale.

There were pockets of electoral violence in some parts of the country during the elections.

Sharing his preliminary views on the general elections, he said in a statement that “voting process was largely peaceful, people cooperated with the security.

“But it was during the counting period and declaration of results that violence started occurring in some polling centres.”

“I thought we were going to have incident-free elections because of what I saw during the voting time but we witnessed some violence scenes in some constituencies after counting.

“I will call on the Inspector General of Police to investigate the violence and punish the culprits appropriately. If these people are not punished we are likely to have people fomenting troubles in future elections on a big scale. We don’t want that to happen.”

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, James Oppong Buanuh has said measures have been put in place to tackle trouble-makers post-elections.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, December 10, 2020, he assured also that all the reported cases of violence in the elections will be investigated.

“I want to assure all abiding Ghanaians that appropriate security measures have been put in place to guarantee their security and safety in accordance with our mandate.

“We will continue to maintain law and order in post-election period to ensure that people go around their normal activities without intimidation and attacks.

“Let me sound a note of caution to any person or group of persons who intend to foment trouble to desist from such acts because we will deal decisively with them”, he said.