In a dramatic response to the chaos that unfolded at the St. Peter’s polling centre during the Ablekuma North parliamentary rerun on Friday, July 11, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has vowed to push for the formation of a Self-Protection Committee if authorities fail to act.
He warned that if the NPP fails to form such a unit he will never visit a polling station during an election to monitor.
The attack, carried out by a group of unidentified macho men, disrupted voting and left several individuals, including former Fisheries Minister Mavis Hawa Koomson, physically assaulted, causing widespread panic.
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Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Wednesday, July 16, Miracles expressed deep frustration with what he described as the unacceptable silence and inaction of both the Ghana Police Service and President John Dramani Mahama, six days after the incident. He warned that unless firm steps are taken by Saturday, July 19, he would insist on the creation of the self-defense group.
“It has been six days. If nothing is done, the only thing that will be left for the NPP to do is to set up the Self-Protection Committee on Saturday, and I am going to insist,” he declared.
The committee, according to Miracles, would be proposed at the party’s upcoming conference, which is centered on internal reforms. He argued that such a structure is necessary to fill the vacuum left by inadequate police presence during elections, especially in volatile constituencies.
“Saturday is a conference for reforms. I will raise my hand and recommend that while we have a legal and elections committee, we need a Self-Protection Committee. Because if the NPP doesn’t do that, I will not go out there to any polling station,” he added.
He further explained the operational framework of the proposed committee: “The nature of this committee will be that when we find ourselves in a chaotic scene, I should have like 10 or 20 people from the NPP standing in to protect me because the police cannot do it for me.”
Meanwhile, Minister for the Interior, Mubarak Muntaka, has assured the public that a full investigation is underway, and that all those responsible—regardless of political affiliation—will face justice.