The Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has warned that the failure of the current government to bring perpetrators of violent acts to book ahead of the December election could lead to a state of anarchy in the country.
He warned that if the people lost trust in the ability of the state to protect them, “then they take measures to defend themselves and when that happens, we really would have a blood bath.”
He said this was the time for all to speak up and “that is why I often say that the moral voice of the society must be heard and the moral voice of society resides in our chiefs, religious leaders and civil society organisations.”
The former president gave the warning on Monday, 14 October 2024 while responding to a question from a chief of the Upper West Regional of Chiefs when the former called on them as part of his three days campaign tour of the region.
The chief wanted to know from the flagbearer of the NDC how incidents such as the last Saturday clash between supporters of the NDC and New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Mamobi, a suburb of Accra could be avoided during these electioneering periods. The clash led to people sustaining gunshot wounds.
In his response, President Mahama believed that because some people did that in the past and were not dealt with and as a result, it has emboldened others to also do the same thing and get away with it.
He said the shooting from the clash was from one side of the groups and wondered what would have happened if people in the other group were also armed.
“The reason why this continues is because there is impunity. Those who have those weapons know that nothing would happen to them. They would do it and get away with it,” he said.
He cited the incident of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election as one clear example where the government failed to bring to book people who visited violence on people.
“I feel a bit helpless about it. The point is we are peace loving but it gets to a point where people must defend themselves.
“If this continues, a time will come where others will also arm themselves with guns and it will become a shoot out and when it becomes a shoot out, more people will be killed,” he observed.
The former President asked that those who were identified to have shot people with guns should be arrested and dealt with by the law.
“If people know that you were arrested and dealt with by the law, they would refrain from what they do,” he said.
Temperate language
He admitted that so far, both he and the Vice president Dr Mahamudu Bawumia have conducted issue-based campaigns devoid of any insults or intemperate language that would lead to any conflicts or confrontation between their supporters.
“I have not heard the Vice president use any temperate language against me and I don’t think I have any intemperate language against him,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that sometimes their followers “go overboard” and advised that they treated each other with respect as stakeholders in the political system “and all of us matter. It is an issue-based campaign and we should talk about issues and not insult each other,” he advised.
In his address to chiefs and queen mothers of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, the former president assured them when elected as president, he would complete all the projects started by his government which have been abandoned and also tackle those that would be left by the current government.
The Agenda 111 projects for instance, he said it was obvious that the current government would not be able to accomplish them by January 7 next year and as such would become “an albatross hanging around our necks.”
He said since the taxpayers’ money has already been invested in those projects, his government would not allow the investment to go to waste as it has done to some of the projects left by the NDC government.
He cited the hostel and library facilities at the current Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) as some of the projects that have been abandoned by this government.
In the health sector, the former president said there was the need to build more medical schools in the country, particularly within the middle belt to train more health workers to attend to the medical and health needs of the people.
When that happens, he said the current Wa Regional Hospital would be upgraded to a tertiary facility to serve as a training facility for the medical students and the SDD-UBIDS would also have a campus of the School of Medical Sciences.
It was his hope and prayer that the people would vote for his party and him as president to implement his vision for the country.
The president of the regional house of chiefs, Naa Dikomwine Domalae, the chief Daffiama, in his welcome address, was grateful to the former president for calling on them and asking to share his vision for the country as the custodians of the lands.
He prayed that he would be well received in the various communities that he would visit during his visit and that his message would be well received by the electorate.
