Macho men ‘flex’ for peace ahead of 2020 elections

Reports of supposed ‘macho men’ stealing ballot boxes or causing mayhem during elections have unfortunately become a feature of Ghana’s elections.

The sight of them at pollen centres send shivers down the spine of voters due to their well-documented violent acts.

But this year, they are out to change the perception and the stereotype that bodybuilders popularly known as ‘macho men’ are agents of violence and instability.

On Farmer’s day, the bodybuilders will converge under one umbrella to compete for personal glory and also raise awareness about peace during the 2020 elections.

Ahead of the competition, some of the athletes have at a special event showed off their well-built muscles.

The bodybuilders who were clad in black ‘I flex 4 peace’ t-shirts treated journalists with different poses of their muscles as they drummed home the need for peace, before and after the 2020 elections.

Abdul Hay Yartey, the President of the Ghana Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (GBFA) urged the bodybuilders to resist attempts by politicians to use them to cause mayhem.

He cheekily asked them to offer themselves as fitness trainers for politicians who make such requests to them.

Hay Yartey also appealed to the politicians to desist from recruiting the services of macho men for violent acts.

“In elections years like this, people see muscular people as violence creators so we want to use this opportunity to show that muscular people can also be agents of peace”.

“The theme for this year’s Man Ghana is violent free election and we have hashtag ‘IFlexForPeace to spread the word to the muscular people out there that don’t get yourself involved in anything violent in this elections. Rather use the unique physique you got to send the message that we are not going to be violent.”