Sack Hannah Bissiw and Malik Basintale for Supporting Violence – Minority Petitions Mahama

The minority caucus in Parliament has called on President John Dramani Mahama to dismiss appointees who glorified or justified the violence in Ablekuma North.

In a statement released on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, the Minority said the violence in Ablekuma North was targeted at opposition figures and was a serious assault on Ghana’s democracy.

They said following the violence, NDC officials such as Dr. Hanna Bissiw and the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) CEO, provided justification for what happened and should lose their jobs over that.

“The most disturbing aspect of the Ablekuma North violence is not just the brutality itself, but the deliberate endorsement and celebration of these attacks by senior government officials,” the Minority said.

They said aside from dismissal of those two, all perpetrators of violence during the election run-off should be prosecuted.

The minority also demanded a thorough police investigation into the security lapses that enabled the violence, and called for the President to publicly condemn the attacks.

“The President cannot remain silent while members of his government celebrate violence against opposition figures. His response will determine whether Ghana continues on the path of democratic governance or slides toward the normalisation of political violence,” the statement concluded.

Analysis of the NPP’s statement on election violence

The NPP’s call for Malik Basintale and Hannah Bissiw to be dismissed represents a politically calculated move that is unlikely to yield fruit.

While Hannah Bissiw did not condemn the attacks on Hanna Bissiw, she did not celebrate them either as she’s being accused of doing.

Malik Basintale also flirted with endorsing violence when he glorified the hat of the assailant who attacked Hawa Koomson.

Both appointees’s responses were not the best and deserve some sort of reprimand, but definitely not an outright sacking.

Nevertheless, it is a politically savvy move by the NPP to position themselves as averse to violence, although many of them could face similar charges of hypocrisy if one were to delve into their past responses to political violence when the NPP was in power.