The constant practice of a particular chore or procedure should bring with it improvements.
The foregone is applicable to democracy, which we as a people have embraced over the years and practiced its attributes such as the holding of elections when the time is due, since the advent of this form of governance.
Our recent elections should have earned for us as a people an added feather on our cap of achievements in democracy.
Unfortunately, however, we are far away from attracting such feathers because of the actions of over-exuberant political actors.
To think that such hooligans are acting on the orders of their paymasters is heartbreaking, considering our ranking in the practice of democracy in our region of the world.
The ‘before, during and the aftermath’ segments of elections are critical, each one vulnerable when there is no dearth of bad elements in the streets and even in the political realm.
The management of these segments of elections calls for seriousness on the part of the citizenry, political actors and law enforcement.
While the recent elections earned success before and during the polls, the same cannot be said about the aftermath of the exercise.
Following, if you like, the completion of the casting of ballots by the citizenry, the counting of the accompanying individual verdicts commenced.
Pockets of skirmishes, life-threatening of course, erupted when the process was interrupted by forceful entry into collation centres and in some instances electoral officers forced to declare winners illegally.
There were instances of the threat of firearms by hooligans who were without doubt baying for blood.
While we thank God that no electoral officers lost their lives, the trauma they endured was enough to break down the faint-hearted.
The story of Tema Central is a case in point, and we must state that it was not the best.
All well-meaning Ghanaians should condemn the occurrence and demand that it should never occur in our local elections.
Yesterday, school children of a cluster of schools in Ablekuma North endured what kids of their age should be spared.
Turning up at school in the morning in high spirits because of the “Our Day” that awaited them, they were disappointed.
Some adults in the name of working in the interest of a political party torched the school. Their intention was not far-fetched. They sought to obliterate ballot papers contained in plastic boxes because of the surrounding dispute over the outcome of the polls in the constituency.
While some of the kids held their heads, others stood in awe as the flames consumed their school, the scene being the first act of arson they had witnessed in life.
For their age, what could be passing through their heads as they witnessed arson committed by their compatriots?
The arsonists could not care a hoot about the negative effects of their actions, because after all they acted in the interest of a political party.
We call for a probe into how the Ablekuma North Cluster of Schools arson occurred. After all, President-elect John Mahama said he would order a probe into fatalities in one of the constituencies.
Such a probe should be all-encompassing so that a better election security management would be found for future elections.
We wish those responsible for the arson would be fished out and made to face the law.
Not doing so would only embolden future arsonists to embark on such despicable act of criminality, and society would be the loser.