Curbing political violence

IT is very disquieting to see supporters and followers of political parties in Ghana always resorting to violence to solve wrangling problems within their parties. When such acts occur the leadership of the party comes out clean on the matter to condemn it outright and after that they leave the problems to go unsettled.

WHEN leading members of a party, whether in government or opposition, are called upon to use their rich experience to settle disputes among party members in constituencies, the feedback that the constituents receive from their elders and leaders is that ‘it is a constituency problem, so let your constituency executives deal with it amicably.’

IN the long run, when the constituency executives try to even tackle the issues, the problems escalate and the end result is nothing but bloody clashes characterized by injuries and grubby circumstances.

ONE of such political violent clashes was reported in the Saturday, 6th February, 2010, edition of the Daily Guide newspaper.

THE paper carried a story on page three (3) with the headline ‘Bloody Clash in Obuasi NPP’. According to the news item, a general meeting held Thursday, 4th February, 2010, by the Obuasi New Patriotic Party (NPP) chapter turned bloody when two groups that are at loggerheads in the constituency slugged it out and in the process, injured one of their members, whose name was given as Solomon Ennin.

THE attack, according to the news item, came from the camp of the former MCE for Obuasi, Joseph K. Boampong.

A similar incident was also recorded in Tamale during an New Patriotic Party (NPP) regional congress on Sunday, 4th January, 2010, when the Tamale Metropolitan Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Abanga Caesar, received a bullet wound on his right thumb during rioting by some agitated supporters of the opposition NPP.

THE shooting incident occurred at around 11.30a.m., after the police attempted to prevent some unaccredited persons from following one of the candidates vying for the chairmanship position of the party into the venue of the congress.

THE main opposition party the NPP has come under intense criticisms on the issue of addressing internal problems affecting the party which sometimes escalate into violence.

THE point TODAY wants to establish is that there is no doubt that these depressing incidents do not in any way help in our fledgling democracy.

LOYAL followers and activists of the two main political parties in Ghana, namely the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP have always engaged in violence over simple issues that could have been resolved by the party hierarchy.

THERE have always been instances where leading members of the party have shown less concern about party matters in constituencies.

TODAY urges the leadership of both the NDC and the NPP to stop being too busy when it comes to matters at the constituency level. This is simply because these matters are equally important for the continued existence and growth of their respective parties.

AS the NPP prepares for its national congress to elect executives to man affairs of the party for the next years ahead, it is our furlong hope that there will be no room for violence on the D-day.