Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah, a presidential aspirant of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has filed a suit against the Electoral Commission, the Inspector General of Police, the National Security Ministry and the Attorney General over the violence at the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-elections.
It is the case of Dr Spio Garbrah that on 31st January, 2019, during the by-elections of Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency, some masked armed men in National Security Council uniforms and riding in SWAT police vehicles belonging to the Ghana Police Service, stormed the La Bawaleshie Presbyterian School, a polling station and generated some form of violence at the station already manned by designated EC officials and police personnel.
He stated that the violence by the masked armed men resulted in gunshots and assaults leading to various forms of injuries and brutalities against innocent citizens.
The Plaintiff claims that the Ghana Police Service (2nd Defendant) could not resist these masked armed men.
According to the Plaintiff, after the violent incident, the Minister of State in-charge of National Security, admitted publicly that his Ministry deployed the masked armed men to the polling stations but was unable to substantiate the reason for the deployment – a deployment that the Plaintiff claims the National Security Ministry (3rd Defendant), has no legitimate authority to sanction and carry out.
The Plaintiff avers that an incident-free election would have provided viable statistics for the 2020 polls, as every politician considers every voting pattern critical to electoral fortunes and stated however, that these fortunes have been lost due to the violent incident as only 17,000 out of 80,000 voters in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency cast their vote.
The Plaintiff is seeking , a declaration that the National Security Ministry is held responsible for the violence at the by-election and an order for compensation for the victims.
The NDC presidential aspirant is also seeking the Court to declare that the National Security Ministry, which has owned up for the presence of the masked men, did not have any legal authority to deploy these men nor were they mandated by the police whose duty it is to ensure law and order.
Among the reliefs, the Plaintiff seeking that the Attorney-General presents a bill dealing with surging political thuggery linked to violence during the recent by-election.
Source: GhanaJustice/F.Kyeremateng
