IDEG calls for stakeholder collaborations

Dr Emmanuel O. Akwetey, Executive Director, Institute of Democratic Governance, has declared that Ghana can have an incident-free election if all stakeholders play by the rules and follow due process, especially the political parties and security agencies.

“Political parties and the police have a duty to ensure that the democracy of Ghana is not destabilised,” he added.

Dr Akwetey revealed these and more at a three-day workshop held by the Small Arms Commission and the Ghana Police Service to have final discussions on modalities for the provision of security for presidential candidates and others.

According to the Executive Director, the fear that this year’s polls might be characterised by violence stems from events that started as far back as the 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections.

“That was the first time Ghana started seeing and experiencing snippets of violence and so much aggression during elections,” he said.

Per his stance, that situation has created an air around elections, and year-in year-out the fear that Ghana’s peace may be disrupted keeps on increasing.

He held that though true, peace can be guaranteed when all factors and entities are managed appropriately with regard to the law.

Speaking about political parties and their contributions to our development, he noted that they are symbolic entities that can stand for peace or violence, but this is largely based on the spaces we create for them, which in turn influences the line they intend to tow.

Dr Akwetey urged all political parties to agree and sign a peace pact ahead of the November polls, which he said will serve as an inspiration to their diverse followers to behave during the polls.

Commissioner of Police (COP) Christian Tetteh Yohuno, Director/General of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, who represented the Inspector General of Police, Mr John Kudalor, reiterated that the police will not tolerate any security vigilante group that is set up by any political party.

“The job to provide security for the entire electioneering process is solely for the Ghana Police Service,” he added.

According to him, it is important to accord the presidential candidates that status as statesmen, hence the need to provide them with security personnel to enable them go about their work.

COP Yohuno noted that as a policy, the police have given party executives the option of submitting names of personnel they are comfortable with to enable the service assign their preferred choice to them.

He seized the opportunity to appeal to the presidential candidates to use the personnel who would be assigned to them solely for the purposes of security. The Director/General of Operations assured the entire public that the Police Service will do its uttermost best to ensure that Ghana’s peace is not compromised during the election.

Mr Baffour Amoa, Board Member of the Small Arms Commission, welcoming participants to the workshop, stated that the meeting was important because more often than not election in Africa is a major trigger of violence and conflict, which destroys the toil of a nation in a short period of time.

“The widespread availability of illegal weapons, the large population of unemployed youth, trained mercenaries, pervasive poverty and the religious extremism sweeping across West Africa have created and will continue to create congenial atmosphere for violent conflicts triggered by elections,” he added.

He noted that the recent growing spate of smuggling arms illegally in the country is worrying, and charged that everyone keeps an eye on the lookout for such things and provide the police with information to arrest the smugglers.

Mr Amoa commended the Police Service for their hard work in arresting the smugglers and retrieving the arms, and charged them to continue to work tirelessly to make the election incident-free.