President John Mahama said if the Nima Police had been better briefed, Sunday's clash between supporters of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP) would not have happened.

He said contrary to reports, the NDC supporters were merely passing through the area which is close to the residence of the NPP flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo when the scuffle broke out.

“Only last Sunday, we almost had a clash which was unfortunate, if any of those firearms had been fired and someone had dropped dead it would have been a completely different story,” he said.

President Mahama made these remarks when he addressed Business owners and leaders in Accra, Tuesday.

The clash between supporters of the NDC and the NPP has pushed issues about the security of the December 7 polls to the fore.

Many are hoping the polls would be devoid of violence as has been promised by the various stakeholders' in the general elections.

Functionaries of the NPP and NDC have given different accounts about the true cause of the incident.

NPP has accused the NDC of first starting the violence. The NDC through the John Mahama 2016 Campaign has also blamed the NPP.

With 22 days to the presidential and parliamentary elections, many security experts have cautioned the security apparatus to prioritize flash points in the country in order to stop possible conflict situations.

United States Ambassador to Ghana, Robert Jackson and United Kingdom High Commissioner, Jon Benjamin have both waded into the issue, warning their Embassies will deny or revoke visas of those who instigate violence in the country ahead of the elections.

The Ghana Police Service has instituted an investigation into circumstances that led to the incident in order to charge the perpetrators.

But the President said the police should have mapped out strategies to avert the violence by anticipating the situation from the beginning.

“I think that the police at Nima should have been better briefed knowing that this group was passing through,” he said.

He said the incident must send a signal to the security operatives to put in place appropriate safeguards to ensure that such a thing does not happen.