The Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has directed the full implementation of the recommendations of the Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Inquiry, nearly six years after the report was submitted to the government.
He said the move was to rebuild public confidence in the country’s security institutions and to ensure justice for victims of politically motivated violence during elections.
Speaking at a media briefing in Accra on Tuesday [Nov 4, 2025] on the outcome of the report on the 2020 and 2024 election-related violence in Accra, Mr Mubarak said the previous government had failed to act on the Commission’s findings, which had allowed impunity to persist in some security operations.
“For far too long, the recommendations of the Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Inquiry have remained largely unimplemented,” he said. “
This government will not allow the work of the Commission to gather dust. We are taking concrete steps to ensure every directive and sanction is enforced.”
He said the Ministry of the Interior, together with the Attorney-General’s Department, the Ghana Police Service, and the National Security Council, had been tasked to carry out all the recommendations.
These include the prosecution of officers found culpable, the payment of compensation to victims, and reforms within the security agencies to prevent such incidents in future.
The Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Inquiry, chaired by Justice Emile Short, was set up in February 2019 following violent clashes at La-Bawaleshie during a Parliamentary by-election in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.
Read also: Government publishes Ayawaso West Wuogon Commission of Inquiry Report and White Paper
The Commission’s final report, presented to the Presidency in March 2019, recommended that no masked or hooded men should be deployed for civilian or electoral duties and that strict rules be enforced on the issuance of weapons to security officers.
It also called for the payment of financial compensation to injured persons, criminal investigations into unlawful acts by operatives, and the creation of a permanent command and control centre to coordinate internal security operations during elections.
Despite these recommendations, many of the measures were never carried out, despite repeated calls from civil society groups and Parliament.
Mr Mubarak said the new directive under President John Dramani Mahama marked a decisive step to correct past neglect.
“We must close this chapter of silence and inaction,” he said. “The victims of Ayawaso West Wuogon deserve justice, and Ghanaians deserve assurance that such brutality will never happen again.”
He added that an implementation committee would publish regular progress reports on prosecutions, disciplinary actions, and compensation payments.
“This is not going to be another report left on the shelf,” the Minister said. “We will enforce every recommendation to the letter.”
