By Iddi Yire
Accra, Jan. 15, GNA – The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has condemned the incidents and acts of hooliganism and vandalism reported across the country in the aftermath of the December 7, 2024, general election.
The CDD-Ghana in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency also condemned the storming, raiding and occupation of public facilities and offices, ejection and threatened ejection of public officials from their offices or official residences, and similar disorderly conduct after the December polls and since the reins of government passed from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on January 7, 2025.
It said CDD-Ghana was aware that a similar pattern of post-election disorder and violence perpetrated by partisans of the victorious party has characterized previous turnover elections in the country during this Fourth Republic.
“This regrettable fact, however, cannot excuse or justify the latest spate of post-election violence,” the statement said.
“Rather, the Center is concerned that this pattern of post-election partisan hooliganism, left unchecked and unpunished from one turnover election to the next, would become an ugly feature of our political culture, undermining efforts to mitigate our winner take all politics and threatening the peace and stability of our Republic.”
It noted that it was in this regard, that the Center calls on the law enforcement authorities to apply the laws of Ghana firmly to arrest this growing tendency.
It said in the same vein, the Center urges the newly installed Government of President John Dramani Mahama, in keeping with its pledge and mandate to Reset Governance and Politics in Ghana, to send a clear message to all Ghanaians, without regard to party, that this growing and disturbing tendency in our electoral politics would no longer be tolerated.
It said at the minimum; Government must do nothing to hinder the leadership and personnel of the Ghana Police Service and the law enforcement authorities from dealing lawfully with those persons arrested in connection with the recent or ongoing post-election hooliganism and vandalism.
“We recall that similar resoluteness and consensus on the part of the political class to deal with the related problem of party aligned political vigilantes, culminating in the passage of the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act (2019) has helped to stem or mitigate that dangerous tendency in our electoral politics,” the statement said.
“We propose that post-election partisan hooliganism attract enhanced criminal penalties similar to those prescribed in the Vigilantism Act for offenders of that law.
“We propose that future Transition Teams, following turnover elections, prioritize addressing and containing post-election partisan violence and hooliganism as a critical component of the transition process.”
It said as the recently concluded elections show, Ghana continues to make important strides in the nation’s quest to build a stable democratic order.
The statement said the orderly conduct of the December 7, 2024, general election reflects the steady, incremental progress Ghanaians had made collectively in their democratization journey since 1992.
“We must continue to work harder to improve upon the performance and quality of our democracy by ensuring that our elections and their aftermath are free of acts of violence and harm to life, limb, and property.”
GNA