The Minister for the Interior, Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has assured that persons involved in last Friday’s Ablekuma North election re-run violence would be identified and punished in accordance with law.
He said the John Dramani Mahama-led administration would not condone any form of electoral violence, irrespective of who is involved.
“I have spoken to the Inspector General of Police, firmly, on all the happenings of Ablekuma North. The videos (of the disturbances during the election re-run) have been forwarded to him. I have instructed him to act swiftly and bring the perpetrators to book.
“We are not going to condone, whether people within our party or outside our party into going around doing anything untoward. We can assure the public that under the leadership of President Mahama, no such group will be allowed to form,” Alhaji Muntaka stated.
He gave this assurance at the Presidency in Accra yesterday when he took his turn to address journalists at the maiden edition of the Government Accountability Series.
The re-run of 19 polling stations in the Ablekuma North Constituency on Friday was marred by violence as unidentified thugs visited mayhem on some electorates.
Notable among the assaulted was the former Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hawa Koomson.
The Minister for the Interior condemned the violence and called it a scar on national conscience, having sustained the fourth republic for over three decades.
According to Alhaji Muntaka, MP, Asawase, peace and security was paramount to the holistic development of the country and won’t be compromised.
On why the perpetrators of the violence have not been arrested more than three days after their action, Alhaji Muntaka said identifying such groups has been a challenge.
“These guys after their action, they vanish from the system and it takes time to track them but the assurance is that we are not going to allow this to go unpunished. Unless they flee the country. So long as they are around, they should be rest assured that the law will take its course because we cannot allow this to happen,” He said.
Alhaji Muntaka assured that the happenings in Ablekuma would serve as a blueprint in the upcoming Akwatia by-election to ensure an incident free poll.
“We’ll use Ablekuma North as a case study to review how we’ll operate in Akwatia to ensure that the citizens are free to cast their votes and express their will without fear or favour. We can assure you that we’ll do our best to ensure that Akwatia is safer and the election, more peaceful,” the Minister stressed.
He reminded the leadership of political parties of the existence of a law that prohibits the formation of vigilante groups as they would be held liable.
Any political party or actor who would hide behind the incident in Ablekuma North to form a vigilante group for their personal political parochial interests, the Minister warned, would not be spared as the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act would be enforced strictly.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI