Former President John Dramai Mahama has told chiefs and other traditional authorities to condemn the use of military to brutalize unarmed citizens during elections by the government.
The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the just-ended December 7 presidential elections said the alleged use of armed personnel by government to terrorize and in the process kill and maim innocent voters is unacceptable and must be condemned by all Ghanaians
He said these when he led a delegation of the NDC to pay a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Techiman and his elders on Wednesday December 16.
He wrote on Facebook after the visit that “We also visited a number of injured persons and the families of our comrades who were killed as a result of sporadic shooting during the collation of presidential and parliamentary election results in the Techiman South Constituency.
“The use of armed personnel by government to terrorise and in the process kill and maim innocent voters and security personnel is unacceptable and must be condemned by all Ghanaians. We cannot allow such barbarism to be perpetuated by government on innocent and unarmed citizens.”
Mr Mahama made the same claim on Tuesday, December 8 when the ballots were still being counted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was using the military to overturn parliamentary election results that are not in the favour of his party, New Patriotic Party (NPP).
But the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, asked the general public to disregard the claims that the military are being used to intimidate electoral officers to overturn election.
A statement signed by Mr Nitiwul said: “The Ministry of Defence refers to a press statement made by the Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Mr John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday 8th December 2020 alleging that the Military of Ghana are involved in overturning the election results favourable to his party.
“For the public record it is hereby emphatically this is false and without any foundation. For the 2020 general elections the military is deployed to support the Ghana Police service and not to engage in politics.
“The general public is therefore, implored to ignore the malicious propaganda against the Ghana Armed Forces but rather cooperate with them and other security agencies.
“The Ministry of Defence will like to remind political [parties that the Ghana Armed Forces is a very professional institution and its members are well respected across the entire world for their professionalism service to mankind and neutrality.
“The MoD will therefore not accept any unsubstantiated allegation against the GAF as a body or any of its members without proof.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
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