Assin North by-election: Police at all 99-polling stations must wear body cameras – Security policy expert

A security policy expert at the Centre for Security Dialogue and Peace Advocacy, Anthony Acquaye, has called on the Ghana Police Service to provide officers who would be deployed to polling stations for the Assin North parliamentary by-election with body cameras.

According to him, these cameras would deter people from engaging in violence and provide evidence in the event that there are some disturbances.

In a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, Acquaye indicated that the police should not be complacent because of the success of the Kumawu by-election.

He noted that the Kumawu by-election is the only incident-free parliamentary by-election among the last that has been held in Ghana.

“Inasmuch, as I recommend the Inspector General of Police ( IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, for supervising a peaceful Kumawu by-election recently which happened to be the 32nd by-election held in the country and was not characterised by election security violence, contrast to Chireponi (2009), Atiwa (2010), Talensi (2015) and Ayawaso West Wuogon (2019), where party vigilante groups caused mayhem in the full glare of the cameras and state security.

“Experience from Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election which was scarier and more terrifying has taught us that the causes of electoral violence go beyond the crushing of party vigilantes but rather infiltration of unprofessional state security personnel to cause mayhem among party loyalists has also become a serious matter of security concern.

“It is for this reason that am calling on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to deploy Police Officers with body-worn cameras in all the ninety - nine polling stations in the Assin North constituency to help improve security professionalism, gather evidence of criminal activities by party loyalists and ensure accountability of officers by avoiding false allegations of misconduct against them,” parts of the statement reads.

Background:

The Supreme Court of Ghana, on May 17, 2023, ordered the Parliament of Ghana to expunge the name of James Gyakye Quayson as a Member of Parliament (MP)

Justice Jones Victor Dotse, Justice Nene Amegatcher, Justice Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Araba Torkornoo, Justice Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Justice Yonny Kulendi and Justice Barbara Ackah-Yensu declared that Quayson was not qualified at the time he contested the election 2020 in the Michael Ankomah Nimfah vs James Gyakye Quayson case.

According to the court, the ousted Assin North MP failed to prove that he had renounced his Canadian citizenship when he filed his nomination to contest the 2020 general elections.

Parliament subsequently declared the Assin North seat vacant, leading to the Electoral Commission of Ghana announcing a by-election on May 27, 2023, to fill the seat.

But there is still one case the former MP has to face in court after the Office of the Attorney General accused him of deceiving public officers to acquire state documents.

On February 12, 2022, the State charged James Gyakye Quayson with five counts; deceit of a public officer, forgery of a passport, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury, and false declaration.

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