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Financial analyst, Sydney Casely-Hayford has said Ghana inherited politics of violence which has led to the creation of a “political class of murderers”.

He remarked that there has been an existing practice where “politicians believe the only solution sometimes to eliminate your opponent is through some murderous act.”

Casely-Hayford’s comments comes on the back of the murder of the Upper East Regional chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adam Mahama through an acid attack. 

The incident has heightened tensions within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the extent that the party’s National Chairman and General Secretary were prevented from attending the funeral of the late Mahama.

Speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue, Casely-Hayford said: “This country Ghana inherited politics of violence – throughout our colonization, we fought the British back and forth for political hegemony. All throughout the fight for independence…there were a lot of killings. Kojo Bostio’s sister’s bungalow was burnt down and she died in the process. There were similar counter attacks by the then CPP government and the NLM [National Liberation Movement].”

He observed that currently, there is low public confidence in the security agencies to investigate and bring the perpetrators of political killings to book due to years of unresolved cases similar to that of Adam Mahama.

“We have too many open ended hanging issues that never conclude especially when it has to do with murder. There are aggrieved parties sitting in there waiting…”

According to the financial analyst, the nation’s history is “rife with political murders and political executions so it is there with us and we have grown up knowing that violence.”

He stressed that it is high time Ghanaians made the decision to actually take the steps to end the numerous political killings.

Casely-Hayford cautioned the leadership of the NPP that there is a “potential fire burning in the back door…if you leave it to fester like we usually do in our politics, then it will become a major issue.”

He predicted that there is the likelihood that after the burial of Adam Mahama, a group of aggrieved young people will sit down and plot reprisal attacks which they will certainly carry out.

“They have to nip things in the bud before they go too far,” he warned.