Police outdoors unit to deal with disturbances after SC ruling

The Ghana Police Service has outdoored its re-organised, Formed Police Unit, with an assurance of tightening security during and after the Supreme Court ruling on the election petition hearing.

The Service paraded some equipment of the unit through some streets in Accra to show off their preparedness to deal with any eventualities.

Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Cephas Arthur, told Joy News, the role of the unit would be crucial in dealing with any disturbances that may arise from the Supreme Court ruling.

According to DSP Arthur, the unit which used to be known as the Armoured Cars Squadron (ACS), has specially trained personnel who will manage mass disorder, rescue abducted persons, provide security for the vulnerable, manage explosions, among many others.

He said the "wholly packaged unit" is ready to "deal with rioting and situations of rowdiness" in the aftermath of the declaration by the court.

"Our message is, we need peace and that people should comport themselves in a way that will not engender deployment of forces and other things...that will create problems for us," DSP Cephas Arthur stressed.

In a related development, a security analyst, Alimu Diallo has stated that Ghanaians must necessarily reinforce their commitment to peace.

His call comes at the back of suggestions by some Members of Parliament and leader of the Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana, Bishop Prince Benny Woode, that the calls for citizens to rally for peace are overblown.

Programmes Coordinator of the West African Network for Peace-building (WANEP), Alimu Diallo told Joy News, adopting the wait and see posture on the outcome of the election petition, could rather spell doom for the country.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Journalists Association has warned, its members could be expelled if they fail to accurately report on the election petition hearing.

GJA President Affail Monney says the Association will deal ruthlessly with members who misreport on the ruling.

He said the Association has already started embarking on an intensive sensitization programme of journalists, to educate them on the need to contribute to maintaining peace in the country before and after the ruling on the election petition.

Joy News checks with the legal teams of the petitioners, President John Mahama, the Electoral Commission and the National Democratic Congress - first, second and third respondents respectively - suggest their written addresses will be ready tomorrow.