President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged the country’s security agencies to deal with any group of persons who will attempt to cause mayhem during this year’s elections.
Nana Akufo-Addo said he has given firm instruction to heads of the security services to act without fear or favour.
Speaking at a meeting with some clergymen at the Jubilee House, Nana Akufo-Addo said he will superintend over a free, fair and peaceful election.
“To ensure that the security agencies in our country act without partiality so that the law is applied evenhandedly, [that] is the reason why I passed a law against vigilantism to make sure that we can come to grips with it. And for the strictness, I have given them to the leadership of the security agencies.”
“So far as I am concerned, crime is crime. Crime cannot have a political colorization. I think from now on, the political leaders must insist that the security agencies act with evenhanded. If an NPP man causes a problem or assaults someone in public, he must be dealt with as a citizen of Ghana not as a member of the NPP. It doesn’t matter that the NPP government is in power”, he added.
Election Security – the Ayawaso scenario
Following the violence that characterized the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election, observers criticized the heavy security, especially the fact that some security personnel were masked.
NDC Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George was also assaulted by some security personnel.
The Minister of State in-charge-of National Security, Bryan Acheampong, said the deployment of security personnel described by onlookers as intimidating was “standard to all by-elections.”
We’ll resist ‘hoodlum’ security in future elections – Mahama
Former President John Mahama said the government will face the wrath of “the people” if it dares deploy “hoodlums” clothed in security uniforms, in future elections just as it did in the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.
He said they will resist such attempts.
“We are serving them notice. They shall never deploy such a force in any election in Ghana again. We will resist it. You haven’t seen armed men running away before? When the power of the people comes after you, you will run. This is the ‘all die be die’ philosophy at work. We won’t accept ‘all die be die’ in this country.”
“They are not supposed to have hoodlums dressed in police uniforms using police vehicles and firing bullets at our innocent civilians.”
