Clashes occur on our blindsides – Ghana Police

The Ghana police spokesperson Supt. Cephas Arthur has said the lack of swiftness in dealing with reports of attacks on sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) by supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was due to the fact that the incidents happen on its blindsides.

Also, he said the police did not expect that “people will go to this extent.”

That notwithstanding, he said some arrests have been made and that more will be made as the police had strengthened its intelligence picking and patrolling.

“Largely these measures have yielded dividends. Except that we have recorded these unfortunate incidents where some people have attacked their colleagues, some properties of the state have also been vandalized. It’s very unfortunate [and] the police have gone in to weather the storm,” Supt. Arthur explained during an interview on Starr Today on Monday.

Hours after the declaration of the NPP’s flag bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo by the Electoral Commission (EC) as Ghana’s president-elect, reports of alleged vandalism and assaults perpetrated by supporters of the NPP dominated the media.

Security analysts have questioned the service’s preparedness, accusing it of complacency following the general peaceful nature of the electoral process.

In his reaction, however, Supt. Arthur disagreed with the criticism. “I don’t share their [analysts’] views at all.”

“We know that especially in Ghana and other parts of the world and even in US, usually the aftermath of the election is quite challenging that’s why in our entire security strategy we had measures in place for the period before, during and after,” he said, adding some of the incidents “happened on the blind-sides of the police.”

He continued: “Of course people sneak into peoples’ homes to attack them. People met people in the nooks and crannies and attack them. Of course you wouldn’t expect the pair of the eye…the police pair of eyes to be everywhere looking at them. That’s why we emphasized caution.”