Democracy suffered a major setback last Friday during the Ablekuma North Constituency election rerun.
We are appalled as are other Ghanaians about the disgraceful conduct of hoodlums dispatched to some polling stations to create mayhem during the election.
Those who expected the process to be smooth-sailing were merely daydreaming, and the events which unfolded at some of the voting centres attest to this undisputable fact.
The Police Administration has swiftly taken action against a police officer who video footages on social media captured slapping a journalist at one of the stations.
Although a welcome action by the internal security management institution, it does not completely absolve them from blame.
It is important to contextualise the nasty developments which unfolded at Ablekuma North within an earlier announcement of the police of not being in a position to secure the collation of ballot papers at the remaining three stations during the last elections.
If the police could not guarantee the security of collation at three polling stations how can they do same at nineteen stations as ordered by the Electoral Commission (EC)?
The police and EC should share the blame for the shameful conduct of hoodlums at the polling stations.
When the EC decided to vary their stance on the Ablekuma North brouhaha, they should have foreseen last Friday’s events coming.
We are in a country where the leadership of a political party, one of the dominant two, boasts of originating from a revolution and cannot therefore be surpassed as far as violence is concerned.
We demand that the police, which was able to identify the police officer who slapped a journalist and to order his interdiction, should do same for those who assaulted two New Patriotic Party (NPP) women, one of them Madam Hawa Koomson. The police deployed to the constituency were mere spectators as the violence unfolded.
We cannot continue to remain stagnant on this despicable notch of violence on the democracy ladder. This is not the kind of Ghana we want, and those who were voted to power should bow their heads in shame for failing to deliver upon their promise of ensuring law and order in this country. Just nineteen polling stations and the police were unable to offer security?
We condemn the institutions whose inactions have led us to where we are today.
Enough has been said about how unacceptable it was for the EC to take the decision they did in variance to their earlier position.
If that is how the future of elections is going to be in this country, then democracy would have to be recalibrated to obviate the state of nature which was in full flight last Friday.
Videos showing prominent NPP women at a polling station being chased by hoodlums who wielded state authority yet not belonging to any of the state security institutions cast a slur on the integrity of our democracy.
The state of preparedness of the police during elections calls for a rethink. Perhaps some actors at the top of the National Security hierarchy preferred the nasty outcome which unfolded at Ablekuma North, hence the deployment of the hoodlums. What a country, what a ruling party!!!