The Chronicle reported yesterday about the warning given to the political parties by the Director of Operations at the Police Headquarters, DCOP Dr Sayibu Pabi, that they should not dare to deploy thugs to the polling stations during the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Speaking at a programme in Accra on Monday, the senior police officer also revealed the battle readiness of the security agencies to deal with any miscreants who would try to foment trouble before, during, and after the elections.
DCOP Pabi’s hard talk came barely twenty four hours after violence erupted at Odododiodio, a constituency in Accra, when members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) embarked on a political campaign, which they chose to describe as a health walk. A number of injuries were recorded as a result of this senseless clash between NDC and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) supporters.
Prior to this incident, similar reports had come from all corners of the country about the clash of the NPP and NDC supporters. Since Ghana has been practicing democracy for close to 30 years, one would have thought that we are mature enough to avoid some of the incidents being recorded, but that is not happening.
our view, the development must be blamed on the negative idea, which is being unfortunately harboured by the youth that they can only make it in life if they join politics.
These youth, instead of getting some work to do, are rather following politicians with the hope that they can give them employment if the party of the politician comes to power. On the other hand, if the politician they are following is a member of the ruling party, they will kill themselves to ensure that they have attracted the attention of the said politician to give them jobs. Since the advent of the Fourth Republic, every president has come out with one form of social intervention or the other, but some of these youth are not interested in being enrolled in some of the programmes.
What they actually want is big contracts or employment they consider as desirable, even though they may not even be having the requisite qualification for the position they are aiming at. This is a clear testimony that we have a serious problem on hand, and if the police do not sit up, these over-ambitious youth can plunge the country into chaos.
It is based on this that The Chronicle supports the early warning issued by the police. Because of the factors we have already enumerated, some of these youth can cause mayhem at the polling stations, because they either want to retain their party in power, or help if the party is in opposition to come back to power. Notwithstanding our position, we do not think the police should also start using brute force at the polling stations under the least provocation.
They should first adopt a human-faced approach by advising those seeking to foment troubles to peacefully leave the scene. Brute force must be applied only if these trouble makers fail or refuse to heed the advice to peacefully leave the polling station. Yes, the police may have monopoly over the use of force, but sometimes a tactful approach can help calm down tempers without resorting to the use of the monopolised force.
We hope that the youth will also respect the right of the police to protect the interest of the state by behaving well at the polling stations. No politician will send his son to cause trouble during an election period, because he or she knows the implication could be death.
This is what the youth must have at the back of their minds when they are being pushed by the politicians to cause mayhem.
The post Editorial: We all have a responsibility to ensure peaceful elections appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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