The horrors of violence and deaths during election campaigns in the 4th Republic
On Sunday, 13th October 2024 at Mamobi in Accra, a political campaign walk organised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) turned violent and bloody when two participants were shot and others sustained various degrees of injuries.
No one needs to be blessed with hindsight not to have predicted or anticipated such an ugly occurrence! It was an event, probably, waiting patiently to happen!
And now, is this not a timely prescient warning that foreshadows events to occur in the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections of December 7, 2024?
As citizens of our beloved country Ghana, there is an imperative need for us to prepare ourselves effectively against the threats of what we don’t wish for to the current volatile political campaign season and the possible poisoned ripple effects after the elections. The threats of violence and deaths are ominous, which portend some calamitous occurrences if we are not careful!
Worryingly, all the actors in this theatre of attrition are resorting to various forms of subterranean, furtive, clandestine and overt efforts to win the elections; either through coercion, connivance and compromise of individuals, entities and even national institutions to do their forbidden bidding. It appears that the sacred hands that are constitutionally ordained to play fair and anoint the “chosen one” have, maybe, been enfeebled or corrupted to ignore the ominous signs of chaos, national disaster, tragedy and instability hanging like the Sword of Damocles!
We all should pray to God Almighty for divine intervention and redemption.
Harrowing statistics of election-related deaths in the Fourth Republic
To earnestly appreciate the sense of urgency needed to quell the tensions and anxieties in the country during the ongoing election campaign, it is wise and healthy to crane our necks back to the beginning of the Fourth Republic and examine the available data on elections-related deaths.
1992 elections: No death was recorded.
1996 elections: No death was recorded.
2000 elections: 30 deaths were recorded. Noteworthy.
2004 elections: 1 death was recorded. That was the infamous and damning brutal murder of Alhaji Issah Mobila. The then Northern Region Chairman of CPP.
2008 elections: 3 deaths were recorded.
2012 elections: 7 deaths were recorded
2016 elections: 8 deaths were recorded
2020 elections: 8 deaths were recorded.
Interrogation and analysis of the above data should be contained and reserved in the subjective tray of the reader. The avowed purpose of the data is not to tease out factional contentions but rather to proffer sobering statistics on the horrors of politically motivated election violence and deaths.
However, any attempt to impugn insignificance to the number of recorded deaths shall be illiterate, in fact, an act of callousness and an unholy folly! This is because almost always all elections-related political agitations, politically motivated disturbances during elections as well as violence and deaths would start from the spoken words of leaders of political entities, which reverberate down to the political activists who unleash undeserved mayhem on the citizens. Consequently, toxic speeches and their equally corresponding diatribes would stir political emotions, thereby giving support and motivation as well as justification to cause violence.
Conclusion:
The disposition of these two gentlemen: Prof. Atta Mills and John Mahama in Ghana’s political discourse has been highly acknowledged as of POLITICAL DECENCY, POLITICAL TOLERANCE and EXHIBITION of TOTAL AVERSION TO ELECTIONS VIOLENCE.
And by my candidly considered conviction, these greatly valued attributes of these Ghanaian political icons can be deployed to stem the bubbling undercurrents of political hatred, animosity and violence. Their character, temperament and personalities are veritable sources of peace, hope and stability in a changing environment. Elections should all be about competition in a democratic milieu, with licit and civilized ways and means.
No Ghanaian should die during or as a result of 4-year election cycles!