Police will not handle weapons at Polling Stations

Accra, Nov. 29, GNA - The Ghana Police Service on Saturday stated that security personnel policing Polling Stations on Election Day - December 7 would not handle weapons at the duty post. However, special Rapid Operation Teams would patrol the metropolis especially at flash-points across the country to deal with any eventualities, Superintendent Francis Aryee, Special Operations Assistant National Police headquarters stated at a day's training seminar for Journalists of the Ghana News Agency The seminar, sponsored by MTN, the leading mobile communication operator in the country was on the theme: "The Role of GNA in Enhancing the Credibility of Election 2008" was attended by regional, district and head office staff and management.

Topics discussed included; "The Dos and Don'ts at Polling Station," "Interaction with Security at Polling Station," "Operating Within the Confines of the Law," "Techniques of Election Reporting," "Effective Ways of Sending Report From Rural Areas," and "Content of a GNA Story on Polling Day".

Superintendent Aryee said the officers at the Polling Station would be equipped with communication gargets to enable them to send distress calls for assistance; stressing: "Security Personnel are ready to play effective and professional policing duties before, during and after the elections to ensure that Ghana remains united. "We will not accept any food, money or any other form of provision outside the police rationing for the day. We are there to protect electoral material, officials, the voter and the general public," he said.

Mr Baldwin Freeman, Principal Electoral Officer, Electoral Commission, said eligible voters were supposed to dip their index finger into the indelible ink as against ticking by an electoral officer to make it more visible to avoid multiple registration. He said all the political parties at a meeting with the EC agreed to the use of either the right or left index finger by the electorate as a mark of identification, "The current change was to make the ink more visible to check unscrupulous individuals who might want to tamper with electoral processes."

Mr Freeman called on journalists covering the elections to be circumspect in their reportage and cooperate with election officials to ensure smooth running of the process.

Nana Appau Duah, General Manager, GNA reminded journalists of the Agency's core value: speed, accuracy and fairness. He said the Agency would not countenance 'careless' mistakes on the part of reporters and urged them to remain neutral in their reportage adding, "do not be carried away by emotions or any other thing to do otherwise".

Nana Appau Duah also called on regional and district managers of the Agency to endeavour to send stories on time. Mr Boakye-Dankwa Boadi, Supervising Chief Editor, GNA noted that the agency was a world-class medium and therefore needed to meet both local and international expectation, especially on election coverage. Mr Mawusi Afele, News Editor, GNA cautioned journalists, "not to pretend to know everything; please cross-check your information, especially on allegations of conflicts and speculations". In a speech read on her behalf, Ms. Mawuena Dumor, Executive Corporate Affairs Manager of the MTN asked journalists to do their best to ensure that the elections became successful. The whole world, she said, was watching Ghana in this electioneering period it was up to Ghanaians to prove that Ghana was still the beacon of Africa by ensuring that the elections become peaceful.

It was in the light of this that MTN decided to sponsor the training programme and hoped the aims and objectives would be met. 28 Nov. 08