Seasoned journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has slammed the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa for describing the December polls as peaceful.
According to him, following the death of 5 people during and after the elections, he expected Jean Mensa to at least show sympathy and express her condolence to the bereaved families of the people whose lives were lost.
This omission by Jean Mensa he adds is a huge dent on democracy as we are “beginning to accept election violence as a norm.”
Speaking on Pan Africa TV he said he is “disgusted and downhearted by this development.
"…It is so annoying and heartbreaking and it gets worse when the Electoral Commission chairperson can actually open her mouth and say that the elections were peaceful when you have reported cases which is 235, you have 5 people dead and many others injured. I’m disgusted by this complete lack of feeling. She was able to give a comprehensive report on the election without mentioning violence, without showing sympathy to the victims of violence and without expressing her condolence to the bereaved families and so on. I am disgusted by this development. Even if the results she presented were valid, credible and so on this omission is a serious omission.
“It means we are beginning to accept violence as the norm. We are beginning to accept the death of innocent people as the norm and this devalues our democracy and this places a huge dent on the democratic experiment. And I am worried, ashamed, downhearted. What is this?” He lamented
The Ghana police confirmed the death of 5 civilians across the nation between December 7, 2020, and December 9, 2020.
The five deaths were recorded in the Odododiodio in the Greater Region, Techiman South Constituency in the Bono East Region, and Savelugu Constituency in the Northern Region.
The Joint Operation centre of the National Election Security Taskforce (NESTF) recorded a total number of 61 electoral and post-electoral nationwide of which 21 are true cases of electoral violence that involved gunshots resulting in the death of 5.
This is according to a statement released by the Director of Public Affairs, Superintendent of Police, Sheila Kessie Abyaie-Buckman.