OneGhana Movement demands probe into election deaths, injuries

Pressure group OneGhana Movement is demanding an independent probe into circumstances that led to the death of five people and injury of 17 persons during the December 7, 2020 general elections.

OneGhana also wants a swift prosecution and sanctions for all perpetrators including EC officers and security personnel caught in breaches of the law during the exercise, and wants the Inspector General of Police to update citizens on actions taken over similar infractions recorded during the voter registration exercise.

The group also described the Electoral Commission’s correction of its announced results as dangerous for Ghana’s democracy and reminded the EC that “the confidence in our democracy is significantly hinged on the legitimacy of our elections,” and urged it “to improve its processes, people, openness, and cooperation with stakeholders in pursuit of accuracy and transparency than just speed.”

OneGhana in a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Emily Nyuur also condemned the two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress in their conduct during the elections, particularly for jumping ahead of the Electoral Commission to claim victory. It described the conduct as ‘sad’ as it came against repeated appeals against the act.

The National Election Security Taskforce says five persons died from true cases of electoral violence with six instances of gunshots.

It listed some of the incidents as;

1.  Central Region: Awutu Senya East constituency- 2 people are receiving treatment from gunshot wounds.
2.  Greater Accra region: Odododiodio constituency-2 people pronounced dead whilst six others sustained gunshot injuries.
3.  Greater Accra Region: Ablekuma Central- 4 people including a police officer sustained gunshot injuries during collation of results on December 8, 2020.
4.  Bono East Region: Techiman South- 2 dead, 4 injured from a shooting incident.
5.  Northern Regions: Savelugu constituency, 1 dead, 3 injured from a shooting during jubilation in the community. A police station was also shot at when people besieged it.

"The NDC reserves the right to impugn the results as long it has evidence of wrongdoing, but it must resort to the court and restrain its supporters from taking to the streets. Supporters of the NPP who have also today taken to the streets over results of parliamentary elections must also be advised accordingly. Thankfully, a presidential election petition will now take 42 days to resolve in the Supreme Court and there is also the assurance that the High Court will deal expeditiously with petitions over parliamentary elections."

"The Electoral Commission (EC) has had to correct errors after its declaration of the Presidential results on December 9. It is reported to have made further corrections on its website and social media handles. These errors, be they marginal, are unpardonable and only create doubts about the credibility of the results as declared. This dangerous but avoidable development by the Independent Referee- the EC has the potential to throw the country into chaos. The EC must apologize and assure citizens that this will never be repeated."