I'm Not A Policeman - Mills

President Atta Mills yesterday hit back at critics who asked him to do more in curtailing the violence that has characterised the biometric voter registration exercise.

President Mills said he was not a law enforcement officer and that it was not his duty to arrest and prosecute marauding gangsters who are running amok at the various registration centres of the ongoing biometric exercise.

According to him, the police were in a position to discharge their constitutionally mandated duties without undue interference from him.

This was when he left Accra to address a durbar of chiefs in the Central Region to inspect the ongoing registration exercise.

It was the second time the President was speaking against the increasing incidence of violence that has characterised the exercise since it began about three weeks ago.

Most of the gangsters causing the trouble were his party members, raising questions about the sincerity of the president.

NPP flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo had called on the president to walk the talk on his commitment to ensure a peaceful, free and fair election come December 2012 when the country goes to the polls.

According to the NPP flagbearer, all Ghanaians were happy and encouraged about the declarations made by President about wanting the December election to be fair and peaceful.

However, Nana Addo explained that “in the world in which we live, words are never enough. You hope that they will be supported by deeds. That’s where some of us have a problem.”

Making a reference to the assault on Ursula Owusu and Samuel Abu Jinapor by machomen linked to Presidential aide Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Nana Addo stated that the development was an example of a clear contradiction of the President’s commitments, “with the police looking on and not being able to do anything about it.

“That for me is a very regrettable step, especially when you consider the fact that the constituency is one of those being sought after by one of the President’s own aides. You wonder then about the comments of the president,” Nana Addo said.

Political analysts have questioned why the President could not make an open statement on the incident all this while. Security experts equally raised issues with the President’s claim that he is not a law enforcer considering the fact that he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and the chairman of the National Security Council.

The president had made a similar call when he made a visit to the Volta region on Thursday when directed the police to arrest and prosecute trouble makers.

However, that was when NDC hoodlums staged an open protest in Accra with dangerous weapons calling for the blood of opponents while the police looked on helplessly.

The James Town District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Franklin Addai had to order the release of one such hoodlums who was arrested during the protest at Ododiodiodoo.

The officer was accused by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) of taking sides in the electoral conflict in the constituency since he had failed to respond to the several complaints of brutality and intimidation they had lodged with him against the NDC.

Yesterday, some NDC thugs numbering almost ten were said to have attacked two NPP serial callers, one Efo and another by name Odehyea at the Rawlings Park area in the same constituency without any provocation.

Their only crime was that they contributed to a radio discussion and condemned the attacks by NDC thugs in the constituency.

The two had since lodged a formal complaint with the police.