Efforts by Ghanaian Police to Counter Violence during Elections by Mr. David Acheampong
Published September 16, 2016
Ghana, as a democratic country, has over the years gone to the polls to elect presidents for the country and parliamentarians for the various constituencies. Election processes in Ghana has seen violence of different kinds since the country gained independence. Despite these notable occurrences, Ghana’s election process has been adjudged as one of the best in the sub region. This has always been possible due to some security measures that are always in place.
Mr. Acheampong at the Dignitary Protection Training Course
The Ghana Police Service has been the major entity that provides security before, during and after the election processes. The service ensures and maintains peace and order in the event of any unforeseen circumstances. For this year’s elections, the Ghana Police Service has prepared adequately to counter and control any form of violence as it occurs. The service foresees that this year’s general elections will be just like previous elections. Some of the incidence that the service anticipates are: verbal and general assaults, demonstrations (both peaceful and violent), stealing of ballot boxes and other offences related to elections. As a result, the service has trained all its personnel in “riot control” and also educated them on the various electoral practices.
In addition to the Ghana Police Service, other law enforcement entities have been brought on board to help deal with any unforeseen incidences. Some of the other entities are: Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana Fire Service and the Ghana Armed Forces. This collaborated effort between the Ghana Police Service and other agencies will go a long way to ensure a peaceful election this year.
In its bid to ensure security for all the presidential aspirants and their running mates, the Police Service has provided these people with maximum security as they go about their campaign tours. This is very necessary because, any of the aspirants is likely to become the president of the nation and therefore needs to be protected before the elections.
The service has also been involved in a series of dialogues with some other stakeholders like the print and electronic media practitioners on how to use their various platforms to promote peace and sanity during the election period. There have been instances where politicians use the print or electronic media to incite their followers to instigate violence.
Finally, the service has also created an Election Security Taskforce from the national level to the community level to ensure collaborated and coordinated efforts in handling all problems that would arise during the election period.
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Post by Collins Agyare. Collins is one of the Delegate/Alumni Coordinators at the West Africa Regional Training Center. Email him at info@westafricartc.org