Police reviewing viral videos to identify culprits
The police are reviewing videos of the recent Ablekuma North parliamentary election partial rerun to bring perpetrators in the violent scenes to book.
The police are consequently collaborating with relevant state agencies to identify actors in the violent scenes.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, disclosed this in Accra when he, along with the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, and the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, held a closed-door meeting with Parliament’s joint committees of Defence and Interior, and Security and Intelligence on the Ablekuma North incident, the civil conflict in Bawku and other issues.
Briefing the media after the meeting, the Chairperson of the Defence and Interior Committee, James Agalga, said the joint committees would submit their report to the Speaker of Parliament in due course.
Mr Agalga said over the past few days quite a number of security issues had emerged.
He named them as the escalation of the Bawku conflict that had led to the loss of several lives along the Bawku-Bazoa highway and the Walewale-Tamale highway.
He further mentioned the violence that characterised the Ablekuma North election during the partial re-run of the parliamentary race in the 19 polling stations.
“As a result of these two important security issues, the joint committees found it necessary to invite the Minister of Defence, the Minister for the Interior and the IGP to appear before us to afford the committees to apprise the members on the developments,” he said.
The MP for Builsa North said the members of the two committees were particularly interested in knowing what steps were being taken to ensure that those who engaged in acts of violence at the Ablekuma North partial election were apprehended and dealt with in accordance with the law.
Reporting to Parliament
“In due course, we shall present to the Speaker a report emanating from the engagements we had today,” he said.
“The ministers and the IGP gave us the assurance that with respect to the Ablekuma North election, they are reviewing some videos which went viral, and in due course the perpetrators would be arrested and dealt with in accordance with the law,” he said.
Mr Agalga added that the security officer seen in a viral video assaulting a journalist during the Ablekuma North election had been interdicted and was being dealt with in accordance with the law.
With respect to the Bawku conflict, he said state security gave an assurance that a number of measures were in place to ensure that safety was restored to the Bawku area and the Walewale-Tamale highway.
He said the two ministers and the IGP further briefed the legislators on measures being taken to prevent a recurrence of the violence that characterised the Ablekuma North election.
Lessons must be learned
A member of the Defence Committee, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, said the spillover from the Bawku conflict on our national security must be contained urgently, especially given what was happening along the country’s northern border.
That, she said, would help to restore law and order alongside the peace pathway that was being spearheaded by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
With regard to the Ablekuma North election, she said lessons must be learned to ensure that “some of these incidents do not recur”.
“As members of both committees who have oversight over these sectors, we intend to follow up to ensure that all recommendations that have been put before the committee will be followed through to a conclusion,” she said.
The Ranking Member of the Defence Committee, John Ntim Fordjour, said the joint committees had taken a bipartisan approach devoid of politics to enable the members to achieve creditable resolution acceptable to all feuding parties.
“We are optimistic that the measures we have discussed with the security agencies and the ministers responsible for the sector will be sufficient in immediately de-escalating tensions we have seen,” he said.
