Don’t deploy military to polling stations — Dr Bonaa

SECURITY analyst, Dr Adams Bonaa, has cautioned against the deployment of the military at polling stations during the December 7 polls. 

He said the Ghana Police Service was well-resourced to handle activities before, during and after the polls, adding that the continual deployment of the military during such exercises should be discouraged.

"We are not under attack. The military can be deployed only during a state of emergency," he said.

Lecture series

Dr Bonaa was speaking at a democracy lecture series in Accra on the theme: "Ghana's democracy development: Assessing the implementation of the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act 2019 for ensuring peaceful December 2024 elections."

It was organised by Care for Free and Fair Elections Ghana (Care Ghana), a civil society organisation (CSO) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

The democracy lecture series seeks to address the increasing instances of electoral violence, inflammatory statements by high-ranking officials, and promote transparency on the steps to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections on December 7, 2024.

Vigilantism 

Dr Bonaa said since the promulgation of the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 to disband vigilante groups including political party vigilante groups and land guards; the groups have quadrupled to 72.

He said although about 20 of such groups were disbanded, they have metamorphosed into "men in uniforms" spread across all the security services.

"Unfortunately, those who get involved in such acts are promoted. The danger is that those who perpetrated such acts are still in the system and in uniform.

"Some have modified their operations by forming private security companies to perpetrate same atrocities in a disguised form," he alleged.

Dr Bonaa said such practices were inimical to Ghana's democracy and urged voters to rethink and give power to people who would be accountable.

He called on the judiciary to be fair in its rulings because a lack of trust could lead to civil disobedience.

Elections 

The Head of the Political Science Department, University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Alidu Seidu, said vigilantism had the propensity of disenfranchising people because once voters fear for their lives, they will not turn out to vote.

He explained that the root cause of vigilantism was mistrust among the political elites that compelled them to form their own security guards to protect them.

Clarity 

Providing some clarity to the topic, the former Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, whose doctoral thesis dwelt on the subject, said internal party security should not be misconstrued to be vigilantism.

"Internal party security are well trained by professionals to provide security and are on the payroll of the party.

Dr Ampofo noted that in the past, the names of returning officers and their deputies were published for people to do background checks, "unfortunately the situation has changed and all kinds of people are recruited to handle such an important job."