By: Kwame Bediako
Lawyer and member of the NPP’s legal team Ishaq Ibrahim Osman shared his perspective on the recent electoral violence report by the Minister of Interior during an appearance on GBC’s Current Agenda show.
“when violence is being visited, as you rightly say, some people might even abstain themselves from the polling stations, because I want to go there to vote, not to go there in the end I might not be able to return home. So for me, we need to condemn it”; he stated.
Osman emphasized that electoral violence transcends party lines, recalling incidents that occurred under past governments.
“It doesn’t matter any political party. And these things are not unique to when MPP is in power. We saw when the NDC won, and subsequently the two by-elections, especially the Abulakumar one, the violence that was visited.”
He expressed discomfort with some criticisms suggesting a lack of political will during the NPP administration to hold perpetrators accountable.
“For me, I’ve always been uncomfortable. It doesn’t matter the political party. And some of the submission, I find a bit distasteful, because it’s as if the NPP time, there was lack of appetite to actually hold those people accountable.”
Osman noted the report pointed to the involvement of security forces in visiting violence, challenging claims of political inaction.
“But when you see the report, it painted a picture that it was not MPP members who was visiting this violence. It was members of the security forces. So I am not sure where they say there is lack of political appetite during the MPP time to prosecute those people.”
He also acknowledged challenges in investigation infrastructure and called for reforms to ensure the operational independence of security services, citing the example of the Metropolitan Police.
“I think we need to actually work hard. Perhaps maybe we need to re-establish certain things so that we can achieve a complete operational independence. So that when something fails, we don’t have the need to blame the police.”
