Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has described the violent incidents that marred the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun as both “sad and unfortunate”.
Speaking on JoyNews Newsfile, Mr Braimah expressed deep disappointment that such scenes continue to plague Ghana’s electoral process more than three decades after the return to constitutional rule in 1992.
“These are certainly very sad and unfortunate developments,” he remarked.
“It’s sad because we started seeing some of these things since 1992. And thirty years on despite reforms, despite improvements, despite what is supposed to be an advancement in terms of civilisation and how we do things we continue to see some of these actions,” he said.
He argued that the continued recurrence of such violence is indicative of deeper, unresolved issues within the country’s democratic framework.
“That should tell everyone that we still have very fundamental problems to deal with in terms of our democracy,” he said.
Mr Braimah pointed to the need for introspection and accountability, urging a critical examination of the conduct of political leaders, organised groups, and the general public.
“I think that the attitudes of our people, the attitudes of our leaders, organised groups, political parties and so on are issues that we have to look at critically,” he added.