The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Interior Committee and MP for Assin South, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, has accused the ruling government of sponsoring the violence that marred the partial rerun of the Ablekuma North parliamentary elections.
He argued that the government’s silence and failure to act, including the absence of arrests despite video evidence of the attacks, suggest complicity between the administration and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Speaking on Accra-based JoyNews on Wednesday, July 16, the NPP lawmaker claimed known NDC officials, including Malik Basintale, incited the chaos by mobilising supporters to storm the constituency and later mocking the assaults.
“We all have to rise up to demand justice. It’s been nearly a week. Key, known, leading members of the NDC and government appointees clearly mobilised people on social media—calling them, mobilising 5,000 men—and they travelled to Ablekuma North to cause mayhem, consistent with their calls.
“NDC thugs were mobilised to 19 polling stations, where they meted out the kind of atrocious violence we saw—assaulting former ministers, candidates, and voters who were merely going to cast their ballot or observe the elections,” he said.
Rev Ntim Fordjour added, “The government, led by the President, is demonstrating to Ghanaians that they are behind and emboldening political vigilantism, a trend that threatens to erode the democratic gains we’ve made and is fast becoming a major security threat under the NDC.”
The rerun, held across 19 polling stations on Friday, July 11, saw the NDC’s Ewurabena Aubynn win the seat with 34,090 votes, ending the NPP’s 28-year hold on Ablekuma North.
However, the exercise was marred by violent incidents, including assaults on NPP members, journalists, and ordinary voters.
