Parliament condemns violence during Akwatia election

Accra, Aug. 25, GNA - Both the Majority and Minority in Parliament on Tuesday condemned the acts of violence that characterized the campaigns leading to the by-election for Akwatia in the Eastern Region on August 18, 2009.

They have also called on the security agencies and party sympathizers to put in place measures that would curb the re-emergence of such violence in subsequent elections.

Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader said this when parliament reconvened to debate on the mid-year review of the budget statement and the presentation of a supplementary budget by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning for the rest of the year. The House to sit for the next four days would also consider the President Mills' nominations of Justice Benjamin Teiko Aryeetey, Justice Nasiru Sulemana and Justice Vida Akoto-Bamfo for appointments to the Supreme Court.

He said Ghana had earned a reputation for the smooth running of elections which propelled the international community to invite himself and Mr Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin, the Majority leader to Ethiopia as crusaders of good governance.

The Minority leader said the incidence that preceded the Akwatia election dented not only the democratic credentials of the country but also dissuaded other countries that had over the years seen Ghana as the beacon of hope.

Mr Kyei-Mensah Bonsu called on the national security to strategize effectively towards the forthcoming Chereponi constituency by-election to avoid violence and other unfortunate incidents.

Mr Bagbin, Majority leader, urged security agencies to ruthlessly deal with all people, who engaged in violence and disturbances before, during and after the election to serve as a deterrent to others that were nursing the ambition of misbehaving in subsequent elections. He said politics was a good profession that shaped people morally to serve and help in the socio-economic development of their countries and it was therefore unacceptable for a few people to take the laws into their hands to destabilize Ghana's young democracy.

The majority leader commended all the candidates of the Akwatia election for exhibiting a high level of maturity during the campaigns and called on the winner to collaborate with the loser to enhance the needed development of the area.

Earlier, Dr Kofi Asare the Member of Parliament elect for Akwatia took the oaths of allegiance and Member of Parliament, while a minute silence was held for the death of Mrs Doris Asibi Seidu, Member of Parliament for Chereponi. 25 Aug. 09