Election 2020: We will not allow miscreants, vigilantes to create problems for the country - Police

Correspondence from Eastern Region

The Ghana Police Service in the Eastern Region have vowed that they would not allow miscreants who foment trouble in elections seasons to have their way in the 2020 general elections.

According to the police, they are well prepared for all persons who do not have good intentions for Ghana and for that matter the Eastern Region.

Speaking to GhanaWeb at Aburi on the sidelines of an Editors' Forum on peace and sensitive reporting, Superintendent Raymond Kofi Erzuah, the Koforidua Central Police Commander who doubles as the Acting Regional Operations Commander, said generally Ghanaians are peaceful but only a few who because of their stomachs veer into political vigilantism and violence to plunge the country into anarchy, stressing that such persons would strongly be dealt with.

"2020 elections, the Police, we, have resolved that we are not going to allow miscreants, trouble makers and these vigilantes to create problem for the country.

"We want to sound a word of caution to the would-be trouble makers that they should not create any problem because the police will not sit down for anybody to create problem for the police," he stressed.

He called on the media to also exercise some circumspection in their reportage to ensure that they promote peace on their platforms.

Spt. Erzuah also urged that journalists increase public education on the electoral laws as well as the vigilantism and related offences Act for Ghanaians to see the need to live responsibly as far as the 2020 general elections are concerned.

The Eastern Region has a total of 661 hotspots where electoral violence is likely to be recorded and out of the number 26 of them are on high alert according to the police.

Supt. Erzuah, therefore, gave the assurance that the Eastern Regional Police Command would ensure that the general elections are held peacefully in all those areas.

"The police will enforce the law and we are going to use force to enforce the law...minimal force (or) reasonable force allowed by the law," he said.