‘Machomen’ Hijack Council of State Elections …Beat up journalists, Scatter Everything

The scores of police officers on duty at the Council of State elections in the Ashanti Region did not arrest a single one of the men who invaded the place to disrupt the process, vandalize property and assault innocent journalists but hours after the incident, the Ghana Police Service has issued an official statement that it is on a manhunt for the assailants.

Whereas the statement says, “Police are currently reviewing all available footage to identify and arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice”, the same footage of the incident, which has gone viral on social media, shows several police officers present during the attacks and some of them were seen attempting the separate the fights that broke out during the attacks.

How can policemen on official duty fail to arrest a group of law breakers who they saw and touched but wait for the attackers to leave the scene then issue a statement to announce a manhunt for them.
The elections, was to decide on a representative from the Ashanti Region for the high office of Council of State – a noble institution mandated by the Constitution of Ghana to “Consider and advise the President or any other authority in respect of any appointment which is required by the Constitution or any other law to be made in accordance with the advice of, or in consultation with, the Council of State”

Chapter 9 of the Constitution Article 89(1) states that “There shall be a Council of State to counsel the President in the performance of his functions”.

It further states that “upon request or on its own initiative, the Council of State is to consider and make recommendation on any matter being considered or dealt with by the President, a Minister of State, parliament, or any other authority established by the Constitution “.

Early reports which have not been indecently verified alleges the group of invaders were hired by a losing contestant to disrupt the process; a rather undemocratic method that injured the integrity of the process to elect a Council of State member.

The group of unidentified thugs forcefully overpowered security present and invaded the election center, hijacked the electoral process and disrupted the sorting and counting of validly cast ballots.

They forcefully overturned tables, destroyed ballot boxes, and scattered voting materials. Journalists who were seen videoing the disruption were not spared: some of them were psychically attacked and forced to delete videos and images they had captured during the vandalism and disruption.

A similar incident occurred during the election of the Council of State representative for Greater Accra but the Police was swift to restore calm for the process to continue.