Alarm bells have started ringing on the surging acts of violence in the country ahead of next month’s legislative and presidential elections.
The situation is so worrying that citizens and stakeholders are calling on security agencies to act swiftly by arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators of election-related violence in accordance with the law, and to reinforce security around electoral personnel and infrastructure.
Incredibly, election-related acts of violence have been recorded in all of the 15 counties, according to the Bong County Chapter of the Liberian National Police, describing the development as “a bad signal.” The police noted that some persons, whom he described as rogues, appear determined to disrupt the 2023 elections.
Just last month, the ear of a partisan of the Coalition of Democratic Change (CDC) was cut- off by those suspected to be partisans of the former ruling Unity Party over charges of intruding into a crowd of partisans of the ruling party during a campaign rally in Monsterrado County.
On Monday, August 21, 2023, Mr. Aloysius G. Bahn, believed to be a member of the Coalition of Democratic Change, was reportedly stabbed by Mr. Baccus Sayeh, cousin of Jeremiah Kpan Koung, Vice Standard Bearer of the Unity Party in Vayenglay Town, Soe Chiefdom, Twah River Administrative District, Nimba County, over “simple political argument” and was later pronounced dead after two days spent at the G. W. Harley Hospital.
Both rival groups linked to the ruling CDC and the opposition Unity Party have, however, rebuffed claims of instigating violence that led to the death of Bahn.
Also, reports of candidates being denied the use of public spaces like stadia for campaigns, town halls for meetings, destruction of campaign bill boards, defacing of posters are much in evidence.
With the elections still three weeks away, and the rate at which these perverse conducts are occurring, the cases of electoral violence might well be dress rehearsals for bigger troubles ahead.
This is critical. What has been sorely lacking is the will power to enforce them. The Inspector-General of Police said that some arrests of these saboteurs have been made and investigations are ongoing. Regrettably, the story might just end there, going by the benefit of hindsight.
Electoral thugs don’t act alone. They are mainly sponsored by politicians who do all within their powers to get them off the hook once they are nabbed.
Unfortunately, the big masquerades behind their dastardly acts are never unmasked by security agencies. Without the breaking of this jinx, FrontPage Africa believes that electoral-related violence will continue to be an incubus in our system and attempts to deal with it will be mere shadow-boxing.
Indeed, the stakes are very high towards next month’s election as the incumbent president will be seeking re-election and with economic hardship exerting a heavy toll on the lives of average Liberians. For some candidates, therefore, every trick in the Machiavellian playbook must be employed to win.
No democracy thrives anywhere with a “win-at-all-costs” mindset or the garrison mentality of the political elite to elections. The failure of the police to deal squarely with this aberration explains why violence and a heavy death toll muddle each electoral cycle.
This has resulted in the broad embrace of ethnic and religious divides, incendiary rhetoric, hate speech, dis-information and intolerance. These provide fertile grounds for violence. But democratic contests are underpinned by noble ideals of tolerance, respect for each other, and triumph of the will of the majority.
No democracy thrives anywhere with a “win-at-all-costs” mindset or the garrison mentality of the political elite to elections. The failure of the police to deal squarely with this aberration explains why violence and a heavy death toll muddle each electoral cycle.
It is worthy of note that any act of violence is a criminal indulgence to subvert the electoral process and hijack power. Such shortcut to public office can never be inspired by the desire to serve the people, but desperation to have access to the public treasury by all means possible.
Therefore, these electoral bandits – the most dangerous of all bandits – must be checkmated.
Ironically, this task is a tall order with the double-dealing display of some security personnel in the country, who throw professionalism to the winds with their partisanship, while covering up crimes and getting corrupted by politicians.
