Security analyst, Dr. Kwesi Aning, is asking the country’s security agencies to invest their efforts into analyzing the root causes of conflicts in order to deal adequately with anticipated election-related violence.
Dr. Aning gave the advice when he was speaking about security concerns ahead of the November polls.
[contextly_sidebar id=”9SOpmiytZuTmFdCCtOynfGou8m8tHiaI”]He admitted the 2016 elections would be fiercely contested and pointed out three kinds of election-related violence that might happen before, during and after the November polls.
Physical Violence
“That is direct assault, mob actions, macho men intimidating…lynching, murder malicious deliberate wanton destruction of property”, he said.
Disruption of political activities
Dr. Annin also said there is likely to be “disruption of political activities” such as rallies among others.
He cautioned both security personnel and political parties “not to think those activities are good for everybody” because some people “will deliberately try to disrupt them”.
“There will be molestation, downright hooliganism. Some people will try to threaten your offices, try to detain you without warrant and do other things that are quite new in our political landscape”.
Psychological violence
The third kind of violence Dr. Aning termed as “psychological violence”, includes “political intimidation, grandstanding and death threats through anonymous phone calls and text messages”.
Dr. Aning said an understanding of all forms of violence irrespective of the size, is a first step to checking the problem.
“More often than not, we don’t quarrel among ourselves but because of the expectation of public good that we may have access to, we tend to fight. We need to understand and appreciate the prevailing security realities in the constituency and what is the nature of the electoral competitiveness where your organisation is working.”
He urged security personnel to understand some of the other underpinning factors which may lead to more violence.
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By: Eugenia Tenkorang/citifmonline.com/Ghana