POLICE in Ghana have arrested more than 100 people – mostly opposition supporters of President-elect John Mahama – over acts of lawlessness.
Supporters of the newly elected president who want jobs have allegedly attacked some state institutions, looted properties, and engaged in disturbances that have left some police and military personnel injured.
The irate supporters also torched two electoral commission offices due to a delay in announcing the outcome of Saturday’s elections and disagreements over some parliamentary results.
Mahama has condemned the vandalism and called on President Nana Akufo-Addo and security agencies to “act decisively” in addressing the violence.
Vice-President Bawumia, the defeated presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), has publicly called on the president-elect to reign in his supporters.
Mahama won with 56.6% of the vote against Bawumia’s 41.6%, the biggest margin of victory in the country for 24 years.
Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) has also won a huge majority in parliament, with 186 seats against 76 for the NPP and four for independents, with 10 seats still to be declared.
In Ghana, it is common for supporters of the winning party to take over state institutions, demanding that the incumbent government’s appointees vacate their offices before the president-elect is sworn in.
This phenomenon is rooted in the country’s winner-take-all politics, where the party in power gets to control everything, including jobs and contracts.
There have been similar attacks during previous transitions – a development which civil society has condemned.
The police have warned all individuals and groups engaging in violence, saying they will not tolerate any form of lawlessness.
So far 106 people have been arrested, including nine who were arrested on Tuesday over the burning of an electoral commission office in the Eastern Region.
The Ghanaian army has also cautioned the public against attempts to disarm soldiers, following incidents of groups targeting those deployed to support the police to maintain order in the country.
“The Ghana Armed Forces wishes to caution that military personnel on authorised duty have the right to defend themselves, innocent civilians, and property, including the use of lethal force, if necessary to preserve life,” said a statement signed by Brig Gen E Aggrey-Quarshie.
Catholic bishops have condemned the violence as “unacceptable and go against the core values of peace, unity, and respect for life that we, as a nation, hold dear”.
They have urged political leaders to take responsibility for the actions of their followers.