Security consultant and risk analyst, Prof.
Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, has highlighted that Ghanaians have historically perceived violence as an acceptable strategy during elections.
Speaking on Channel One TV's Point of View programme during an episode titled Building Trust for a Credible and Peaceful Election 2024, Prof.
Aning emphasized that, despite Ghana preparing for its ninth general election, there remains a belief that individuals can engage in misconduct without facing consequences.
He linked this mindset to incidents from previous elections, including the deaths that occurred during the 2020 polls. "We are voting, we are having elections.
This is the ninth time, but we are not learning from the process that every single election since 1992 has become progressively more violent and then we don't seem to be willing or prepared to pull back from the brink. "My colleagues and I have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that there is a very positive correlation between threatening to use violence, naturally being violent and what one attains when one's party gets into power. "So, over the period, we've seen violence as a credible currency during elections and if one begins to examine the acts of violence, the threats, the intimidation both psychological and physical and the posturing, it is predicated on the fact that in 2020 either seven or eight people died," he stated.
However, Prof Aning argued that history would document and punish those who misbehave. "My argument was that if you misbehave, history will document it and at the appropriate time you will be punished," he concluded.