The National Peace Council has indicated that the pockets of violence witnessed at some limited voter registration centres across the country show a prime risk for the 2024 election.
The Peace Council underscored the importance of swallowing such violence that occurred at certain centres during the ongoing limited voter registration exercise.
According to the Council, the inability to find pragmatic measures to address these incidents could amount to escalated incidents that could threaten peace and tranquillity in the country.
Speaking to Citi News, George Amoh, the Executive Secretary of the Peace Council said “…at the peace council, whenever an issue like that comes up, like the one that happened, unfortunately, at some part of the Ashanti Region, are early warning signs, you do not downgrade them.”
He said the random acts of violence need to be assessed thoroughly and dealt with as soon as possible.
“You have to carefully assess the potential they have to affect the elections in December. They are signs that we have to sit up but they are not signs to discourage us,” he explained.
The Peace Council’s statement is on the back of complaints by the Electoral Commission that violence has been observed at some centres. In suggesting a solution, the Commission said using the Ghana Card as a sole document for registration would eliminate the confusion at the centres.
According to the Commission, the violence witnessed is mostly due to challenges of the age and citizenship of some registrants by party agents and officials.
“What we should be concerned about is how we can contain spillover or not spread in order that we cannot contain it. So, I would like to encourage the Electoral Commission to continue with the processes that it has laid down for all these years to ensure that they get the right people, I mean those who are supposed to be on the register. None should be disenfranchised because of somebody’s issue.
“So, we must maximise the opportunities that we have to get as many people who are yet to be on the register to be on the register. I think that should be the approach of the EC,” Peace Council.
