Let’s heed IGP’s call to ensure peaceful elections
Last week, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr John Kudalor, called on Ghanaians not to create trouble before, during and after the elections, so that we could all continue to enjoy peaceful elections.
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The call, apart from coming at the right time, also suggested that ensuring peaceful elections was not in the hands of only personnel of the Ghana Police Service but also every Ghanaian.
Even though we have successfully held six elections and won for ourselves accolades and endearments from the comity of nations, such as being an oasis of peace in a troubled sub-region and a beacon of democracy in Africa, we cannot assume or just wish that this year’s elections would be peaceful if we do not work at maintaining the peace.
The fact that we had pockets of violence at some hot spots during past elections, and even had to contend with cases of violence during the recent registration and voter transfer exercises, must keep all of us on our toes.
If we all become ‘peace conscious’ during the elections, we will sail through once more as a nation and maintain our credential as the beacon of hope on the African continent so far as peaceful elections and democracy are concerned.
For this to happen, however, we must refrain from unnecessary arguments at the polling stations and the collation centres.
The Daily Graphic believes that if everyone joins the queue on ‘D-day’ in an orderly manner and stays away from the centres after casting his or her vote, as the IGP has advised, we will show that we want peaceful elections.
We also urge the political parties and individuals contesting the elections to refrain from using thugs to cause commotion at polling stations or snatch ballot boxes because they suspect their preferred candidates are losing.
As the IGP warned, his men and other security personnel who would be ensuring the peace at the polling stations would deal with anyone or group of persons who might want to foment trouble or create mayhem at any of the 29,000 polling stations.
We are not in any way suggesting that people must not be vigilant on election day during the casting of ballots or the collation of results.
By all means suspicious activities must be challenged. But we urge that any challenge of any individual’s eligibility or attempt to circumvent the process must be done using due process, so that the challenge does not degenerate into any form of violence.
The Daily Graphic cautions all that any form of misunderstanding or violence can escalate into a major setback with ripple effects across the country and, therefore, recommends that any confusion at the polling stations be settled before it gets out of hand.
We also urge polling officials not to show any bias at the centres that can engender any misunderstanding or confusion.
The voting process is overseen by humans who can make mistakes. We, therefore, urge any mistakes that may occur at any of the centres to be handled quickly and in a mature manner, so that we sustain our credential as the beacon of hope in Africa.
