Election violence: IGP should have resigned by now - Minority

The Minority in Parliament has said the Inspector General of Police (IGP), James Oppong Boanuh, should have tendered his resignation letter by now following the number of violent incidents that were recorded during and after the December elections.

According to Member of Parliament for Builsa North, James Agalga, the IGP failed to protect the lives of innocent Ghanaian citizens leading to the tragic death of some of these persons.

The Ghana police confirmed the demise of 5 civilians across the nation between December 7, 2020, and December 9, 2020.

The five deaths were recorded in Odododiodio in the Greater Region, Techiman South Constituency in the Bono East Region, and Savelugu Constituency in the Northern Region.

The Joint Operation centre of the National Election Security Taskforce (NESTF) recorded a total number of 61 electoral and post-electoral incidents nationwide, of which 21 are true cases of electoral violence that involved gunshots.

Reacting to this report, James Agalga wondered why the IGP is still at post.

He said if he fails to resign, the president should immediately dismiss the IGP as he was the chairman of the Election Security Taskforce who supervised the elections.

Speaking on CitiNews, James Agalga said “the IGP appeared before us (Parliament) and assured us that he was the chairman of the Election Security Taskforce. I remember clearly how the Minority Leader, Haruna Idrissu made it known to him that should anything go wrong, the Minority was going to hold him accountable for any breaches. Now five people were killed. His men targeted innocent citizens, unarmed civilians and fired at them, and he is still at post.”

“If I were him, I would have done the honourable thing by resigning but if he wouldn’t do so, he should be immediately dismissed.” He added