Occupy-Ghana is condemning the gun shooting incident at a voters registration centre in Awutu Senya East Constituency of the Central Region.
The pressure group has called for a quick probe into the matter.
Occupy-Ghana has also expressed grave concern about the Special Development Initiatives Minister and Awutu Senya East MP, Hawa Koomson, allegedly firing a gun at a registration centre in her constituency.
“We note that the Minister has admitted to this,” it said.
“OccupyGhana has had occasion, especially in the wake of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, to condemn the use of violence in our electoral politics, whether by government agents or private persons,” the pressure group said in a statement.
It added that “the use of force or violence is a crime under our laws, unless there is reasonable justification, and within the strict bounds provided by law. Specifically, it is a crime to fire a weapon ‘in a town without lawful and necessary occasion.’”
“Possession of a firearm ‘without lawful excuse’ is a first-degree felony. And it is also a crime to have an offensive weapon while in a public place, public meeting, or at a public assembly of people, ‘without lawful authority.’”
“We condemn all election-related violence. We also condemn the inexplicable circumstances under which the Minister took a loaded weapon to the registration centre in the first place, when the Minister has police guard, paid for by the state and whose job is to protect her,” it said.
Further, the law that regulates the registration of voters also provides a process for challenging ineligible people who register or attempt to do so. That is what should be followed, if people are breaking the law. No individual has the mandate or power to seek to prevent others from registering simply because that individual believes that the law is being flouted, it noted.
“We call on the police to quickly investigate the circumstances under which this incident occurred. If it is found that the Minister breached the law, she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under the law,” the group demanded.
By Melvin Tarlue