Peace Council asks for tighter gun control following voter registration skirmishes

Following the brandishing of guns in several registration centres across the country, the Ashanti Regional Peace Council has asked for policies that would ensure tighter gun control.

Speaking to Joy News, the Regional Chairman, Rt Rev Christopher Nyarko Andam, said that the use of guns should be limited to security officers or persons detained to man a particular polling station.

He stated that the pulling of guns at registration centres had become very prevalent and that appropriate law was needed to curtail such incidents ahead of the December 7 poll.

“It is wrong. It is becoming very phenomenal and we must put a stop to it before it escalates to something else,” he stated.

“The Peace council condemns this attitude. The place is not a battleground, this is an early warning and we must deal with it before it generates to something else,” he explained.

He urged the public not to carry guns to any registration centre nor put the law into their hands, but rather count on the police for protection.

“If you go there and you have any grievance, report to the police. If it is for protection, the police are there to protect you,” he stated.

““If you bring out a gun and you are not careful and you pull it, it will kill,” Rt Rev Andam observed.

But the Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka accused the Ashanti Regional police of failing to deal with reported cases of violence at registration centres in the region.

Violence at several registration centres has become rampant in recent times.

The Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East admitted to firing shots at a registration centre to ward off alleged thugs from the National Democratic Congress who she claimed attempted to attack members of her campaign team.

In another instance, a man who claimed to be a national security officer pulled out a gun threatening to shoot a police officer at a registration centre at Asawase in the Ashanti Region.

This is not the first time the Peace council has condemned the violence at registration centres.

It has in a statement condemned the violence at registration centres in Asutifi South, and Tano South Constituencies in the Ahafo Region;  Dormaa West Constituency in the Bono Region; Ejura-Sekyere-Odumase constituency in the Ashanti Region; Ho West in the Volta Region, as well as New Town and Fadama in the Greater Accra Region.

The peace council is condemning and advocating for the refrain of gun use as Right Reverend Andam indicates it poses as a threat to human life.