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Politics of Wednesday, 12 August 2020

Source: peacefmonline.com

There is nothing wrong with professing to vote for or against a Prez - Pratt on WASSCE riots

Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor in Chief of the Insight newspaper play videoKwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor in Chief of the Insight newspaper

Editor-in-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. says the offences by some SHS students who ridiculed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over their failure to write their final examinations are not the same and so asked the education authorities not to lump the offences together.

Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on the sanctioned students, Kwesi Pratt defended the actions of some of the students, claiming not all of them vilified the President.

A video that went viral on social media days ago captured some aggrieved finaly year students insulting the President while others destroyed their school properties all in protest against their inability to write one of their final exam papers.

The student who were relying on past questions got disappointed to have answered new questions which they had not crammed from the past questions, hence going all ballistic on the President blaming him for not helping them to pass their paper.

Amidst the insults, some students threatened not to vote for President Akufo-Addo and his government in the December 7 elections this year.

According to Kwesi Pratt, the students who pledged not to vote for the President cannot be grouped under the category of the students who insulted the President.

He argued that the students have a right to proclaim who they want to win the elections and so questioned why they would be punished for exercising their right.

He asked the Ghana Education Service what the offence of those students are to merit a punishment.

"These offences are all not the same. In fact, in some cases, they're not offences. In Ghana, it's the right of a person, whether 18 years old or 75 years, to say he or she will vote for this party or not. But it is a unlawful to destroy a property, whether in provocation or not; so, that's a different category. The insult also shouldn't be tolerated . . . I wasn't happy with the insults but there's nothing wrong with the students who said they want or don't want a particular political party or President," he said on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo'.

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