2020 Election: Stakeholders pledge speedy resolution of violence cases
The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), says election stakeholders as well as state and non-state actors have pledged to ensure speedy resolution of the 2020 election violence cases.
This comes on the back of a report by CDD, tracking the status of the recorded violence cases during the 2020 election in 11 constituencies from 6 out of the 16 regions in Ghana.
CDD, in its earlier report on ‘Post-Elections Accountability on Elections Security’, revealed that a total of 12 cases were validated from the electoral violence cases reported during the 2020 elections.
It also added that the cases were thoroughly profiled and incidents involving deaths, physical harm, gun violence, and property destruction were prioritized for consideration in the report.
CDD, also stated that some financial support was given to the affected people but was due to their affiliation with a particular political party, adding that some victims did not officially report the case to the police.
Some victims are also dependent on updates from the media and police but do not follow the cases themselves, and out of the 12 cases tracked, four are in court, three are still under investigations, three have also been forwarded to the Attorney General’s office for advice while two have been settled by the parties involved.
To this effect, CDD noted that it organized a forum to provide the victims and affected families a safe environment to share their stories and challenges in seeking justice while giving them access to credible information from key stakeholders on their respective cases.
The forum also focused on assisting the victims to bridge the gap between them and the State, security agencies and criminal justice institutions to engender trust among them in the pursuit of justice.
CDD-Ghana disclosed this in a press statement issued on February 21, 2022 on the back of its earlier report adding that some of the victims expressed their difficulties in seeking for justice.
According to Ms. Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson of NCCE who doubles as the Chair of the Project Advisory Committee of the ‘Post-Elections Accountability on Elections Security’ project, the wheels of justice move slowly, and the sharing of information and the search for peace are the elements that speed it up.
“What we require across board is justice and compensation. Justice does not happen by chance. If you want justice, you must pursue justice. Ghana must transition from a period of violence associated with elections, to elections that come and go peacefully for all of us. As hard as it is, let us not harbour in us, any mind-set of retribution, of revenge, of reprisal attacks. Violence begets violence and that will not auger well for us as a country,” she cautioned.
In addition, she recommended for the State to provide psychological support services for the victims and affected families to help them manage the trauma they experienced.
Alhaji Shaibu Yakubu, a member of the Bono Regional Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, also urged the victims, affected families, and the public not to withhold any information because the Police cannot effectively prosecute a case without evidence.
He further assured that the Ghana Police Service is committed to bringing a logical conclusion to all the cases for justice to prevail.
