Police deny bloating early voters list

The Director of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, COP Christian Tetteh Yohonu, has said “it is not true that we are adding new names” to the special voting list so as to bloat it.

He told journalists in Accra that rumours and allegations against the police to that effect are baseless since personnel of the security services, including the police, have already gone through the registration processes, and so there was no way they could circumvent an already ended process to vote.

“There’s no way somebody can vote if the person is not a registered voter. Whether the person is voting on the D-Day of voting or is voting on the special day, the person has only one opportunity to vote,” he said in response to the allegation made by three political parties who issued a joint statement on Thursday.

“There’s nothing like any new names, all the people that we have are all registered, valid voters, and they have the opportunity to vote only once.”

Meanwhile, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has issued a stern warning to anyone or group of persons who might stir conflict in the 7 December polls.

Chief of Defence Staff Air Marshal Michael Samson-Oje told journalists at a forum: “Any unlawful act will be met with the force that it deserves.

“I’ll like to sound a note of caution to any person or group of persons who intend to cause any kind of trouble during the election period. We in the military are ready and prepared together with the civil police and our other sister security services to deal ruthlessly with any such group of persons or person,” he said.

He appealed to the media to “let us jointly employ all the means at to our disposal to ensure a peaceful, free and fair election”.

“I will like to assure all and sundry that the armed forces will abide by the ethical codes and principles that govern our noble profession and in the prosecution of our assigned tasks and roles regarding the upcoming elections,” the CDS said.

“We intend to play our role without prejudice, fear or favour. We remain committed to our oath to defend the territorial integrity of our nation and in this resolve, we shall not falter. We’ll like to call on the media to give the people of Ghana timely and fair reportage and also to block out anyone who uses foul or inciting language or any form of hate speech. Together, we can ensure peaceful elections.”