The Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Adusei Sarpong, has discounted claims by the East Legon District Police commander that he was excluded from security arrangements for the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election although the election was held within his jurisdiction.
The East Legon Police Commander, DSP George Lysander Asare told the Justice Emile Short commission of inquiry on Monday that he was excluded from the election security operations.
He said he was rather asked to return his pickup vehicle to the regional command.
DSP Asare said:
“I asked Chief Supt. Kwesi Ofori, the one in charge of Accra Regional operations as to why my name was not part of the task force group and he told me I shouldn’t worry….They [Accra Regional command] are in charge and even my car, they asked me to bring it to Accra region… [In] our work, you can’t challenge authority like that,” he said.
But DCOP Patrick Adusei Sarpong who appeared before the commission on Tuesday said the claims are untrue.
He said DSP George Lysander Asare was the first on the list of persons selected to be part of the election task force but was not assigned any specific polling station.
He said DSP Asare was supposed to be on patrol to ensure that law and order during the elections.
He added that he a sent messages to all the district commanders via WhatsApp [the day before the election] to be present on the day of the election but DCOP Patrick Adusei Sarpong did not respond to his message but he was expected to be with the patrol team.
“That is not true [that we sidelined him]… When the election was going on and he reported the [shooting] incident to me, I told him to take care of the situation because it falls within his command.”
He further explained that the instruction to DSP George Lysander Asare to return his pickup was not exclusive to him as all district and divisional commanders were also directed to return their pickup vehicles.
“Mr. Chairman, let me put in this document which was a message which was sent to all the divisional, district and unit commanders to bring in their pickups for the operation. So it was not to him alone…,” he said.
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By: Jonas Nyabor | citinewsroom.com | Ghana