President John Mahama’s silence on the vandalism and looting of state property embarked upon by members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) following his re-election into office is baffling, Dr Frank Bannor, an economist and lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has said.
The wave of vandalism, looting and lawlessness resulted in some government buildings, including the Electoral Commission’s Damongo office, being torched.
A police station was also set alight and the office and private residence of the outgoing Communications Minister Ursula Owusu were ransacked by 15 suspects who stole cash, TV set, mobile phones, three new motorbikes, a Nissan Hardbody pickup truck and vandalised CCTV and security infrastructure.
In a separate incident, NDC supporters vandalised another office of the EC in Ablekuma North during the collation of results on 17 January 2025.
Also, some branch executives of the NDC vandalised the party’s office in demand for the appointment of Effutu parliamentary candidate James Kofi Annan by President John Mahama.
In another appointments-related vandalism, supporters of the NDC set the party’s Ho Central office ablaze over their anger with the appointment process.
Similarly, party supporters who felt their preferred candidates had been left out by President John Mahama vandalised some party properties in Bole in the Savannah Region.
Speaking on Bullet TV’s breakfast show, ‘Morning Target,’ hosted by Nana Yaw Fianko and Seli Acolatse Apaloo, Dr Frank Bannor said: “The fact that a new government has come does not mean that the laws of the land have stopped working. It does not also mean the security agents, and in this particular instance, the Ghana Police Service, has ceased to exist as a core security institution in Ghana. That is very very important.”
“But why is it that amidst all this misbehaviour, the Ghana Police Service has become a toothless mongrel? Of course, they have been toothless because they have not been able to react,” Dr Bannor wondered.
“Clearly,” the economist noted, “The buck stops with His Excellency President John Mahama because the chronology that you have given, all is linked to the fact that, ‘It is our government that has come to power, so, we also need to take over.’ His Excellency is the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces. He also has the power to instruct the Ghana Police Service to do the very necessary things that he ought to do to ensure peace and order within Ghana and aside from that, these are his own party people. It is not like it is NPP or CPP or PNC or whichever people are doing this. These are his own party people.”
Recounting other incidents of post-election vandalism, Dr Bannor said, “I watched the video of the Bui incident when the guy was clearly telling the receptionist that, ‘It is our government that has come into power, so, leave here so that we’ll also come and take over.’ He was speaking on authority that he is an NDC supporter and for the fact that the NDC has won elections, someone who has legally been employed as a public servant must vacate her position for them to come and take over. How does this still happen?”
“So, if clearly, they are saying this based on the fact that the NDC, as a party, has assumed office, then clearly, His Excellency has the mandate to call his party people to order …” Dr Bannor insister.
He asked: “In all this, why has the president remained silent? Why? It is shocking because I remember clearly that in 2020 when we had the general elections and there were some pockets of misbehaviour, His Excellency then, who was the flagbearer of the NDC, called on Nana Akufo-Addo, the sitting president, to call his people to order. I remember this clearly. So, if, indeed, in opposition, he was able to call on Nana Addo to call his people to order, why can’t he also do same as the president of the republic to call his people to order? Why has he remained silent? It baffles my mind.”
Dr Bannor added: “At the same time, I have not heard the general secretary of the NDC calling his people to order. I have not heard the national chairman of the NDC calling his people to order. I have not heard the majority leadership in parliament calling their party supporters to order. So, why, in the midst of this chaos and misbehaviour, why have all these people remained silent? That is the question that we should be asking ourselves.”
State broadcaster GBC, however, reported on 11 December 2024 that Mr Mahama, as president-elect at the time, issued a statement to condemn the hooliganism, saying: “Transition from one administration to another can sometimes can sometimes create a sense of power vacuum leading some individuals to act out of their own interests.” In that statement, Mr Mahama ordered: “The attacks must cease immediately.”
