The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) is demanding justice for victims of the 2024 election-related violence, cautioning that accountability was crucial to prevent future incidents of electoral violence.

The Programme Manager for Security Sector Governance and Local and Urban Governance at CDD-Ghana, Mr Paul Nana Kwabena Aborampah Mensah, said the completion of investigations into the 2020 and 2024 election-related violence should be followed by concrete action to ensure that perpetrators were held accountable.

“You can’t have peace without justice. People whose parents, siblings, husbands were affected are still in the system and any time there’s elections, they may want to retaliate.

Even if we don’t extract any compensation for their families, they’ll be okay for telling their stories just as was done in the reconciliation process to bring them some form of relieve,” he stated.

Mr Aborampah Mensah was speaking at a Quarterly Inter-Party Dialogue organised by the National Peace Council (NPC) in Accra yesterday.

He said political tensions had increasingly moved beyond election periods and persisted during governance, posing a threat to national cohesion.

He cited earlier studies by CDD-Ghana on electoral violence which found that political conflicts were initially driven largely by propaganda during election periods, while the 2016 elections witnessed the emergence of political vigilantism and attacks on ballot boxes.

The Programme Manager called for sustained dialogue among political actors to prevent political disagreements from escalating into violence.

He urged political parties to prioritise dialogue, consensus-building and accountability to sustain peace beyond election periods.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Ghana, Mr Niloy Banerjee, said Ghana’s long-standing tradition of peaceful democratic transitions had made the country a beacon of democracy on the African continent.

He said democracies around the world were experiencing backsliding, but Ghana had continued to distinguish itself through its commitment to peaceful transitions and constructive political engagement.

Mr Banerjee noted that political parties remained indispensable pillars of democracy because they provided platforms for dialogue and deliberation on national development.

He thus urged political leaders to empower young people as credible voices in governance and deliberately increase women’s representation in political party structures and public leadership.

The Project Manager at Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Ms Adelaide Yiriyelleh, underscored the importance of sustained political dialogue in strengthening Ghana’s democracy, enhancing trust among political actors and building national consensus.

She said similar engagements in the past had demonstrated the value of bringing political parties together to discuss issues of national interest.

Ms Yiriyelleh said previous dialogue sessions involving political parties had yielded positive outcomes, affirming the relevance of such platforms in promoting peaceful coexistence and democratic governance.

It would be recalled that following investigations by a special task force set up by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ghana Police Service into the 2020 and 2024 election-related violence, 11 criminal case dockets involving incidents of violence and deaths recorded during the two elections were forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Office for further action.

The government has pledged to ensure justice for victims and hold offenders accountable for election-related offences to bring closure to affected families.

BY ABIGAIL ANNOH & PRINCE ADDO FRIMPONG