You dare talk about violence during elections - Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu slams Ato Forson

The Majority Leader and Minority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament clashed on the floor of the House on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, over the upcoming Assin North parliamentary by-election.

Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader, while addressing the House, warned the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) and the Ghana Police Service against engaging in actions that will mar the by-elections.

He urged the chairperson of the EC, Jean Mensa, to ensure that the election was free and fair.

“We are the IGP and the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission to ensure that the by-election is free, fair and incident free just like the NDC primaries.

“We do not want and cannot afford another Ayawaso West Wagon incident,” he said.

Ato Forson’s remarks did not sit well with the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who suggested that the leader of the minority caucus had no right to talk about electoral violence.

According to him the worst violence in a by-election was under the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) where seven Ghanaians were killed.

“If my colleague should send us back and say that we should not allow what happened in Ayawaso West to happen again in the next by-election, to me it is not a statement that ought to have been made.

“Because if we are talking about the most violent by-election in this country, it was at Chereponi when seven people were shot at point blank by an operative of the castle. You have the courage to talk about violence in by-election,” he said.

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