The Ablekuma North 2024 election rerun was meant to be a simple democratic process: a redo, a reset, a rerun. But what we witnessed instead was a reveal: a revealing of hypocrisy, insensitivity, and the disturbing recklessness of some of the very people entrusted with the power to lead us.
It appears some of Mahama’s appointees, whom I once praised for their astute use of PR, are now teetering dangerously close to overexposure. When public relations becomes public provocation, when “likes and shares” start overshadowing truth and sensitivity, then we are no longer informing, we are inciting.
This isn’t the first time violence has reared its ugly head during an election in Ghana. The Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election in 2019 still lingers in our memory like a national scar. But since it happened before, is it okay now? Are we normalizing chaos because we’ve archived the last one?
If Hawa Koomson was your mother, sister, your cousin, or your daughter, would you still be proud of the man who flew across the polling station like he was auditioning for John Wick 5? When prominent men and women with blue ticks and polished titles boldly endorse such nonsense, we must ask: What exactly are we building?
To the Ghana Police Service, your performance at Ablekuma North was not just disappointing, it was dangerously indifferent. Were you not aware of the tensions? Did you not foresee the predictable chaos that always comes with political reruns in hot zones? Or did someone simply forget to brief you? The officer who slapped a GHOne journalist on duty must be held accountable—not transferred, not shielded. Justice mustn’t be a press release—it must be action.
Let’s also not forget the leadership, or rather, the misleadership of the NPP in this entire rerun. From boycott to sudden U-turn to complete no-show at the polling center, they left their candidate hanging like a poorly written political tweet. You don’t abandon your soldier in the middle of battle and blame the enemy for taking the field.
And yet, amid the chaos, a victor emerged. Congratulations to Ewurabena Aubynn for her win. Democracy, though battered and bruised, still limped across the finish line.
But let us not pretend everything is fine. These are the very precedents we should be avoiding because today it’s Ablekuma North, tomorrow it could be the whole Republic. And if we continue to trade justice for convenience, and dignity for digital clout, then what kind of nation are we really building?
Me ink asa…
— Snr. Kwame Kusi
