Lakeside District Police Commander justifies ‘heavy’ deployment of security personnel at NUGS congress

The Lakeside District Police Commander, Superintendent Peter Adjei, has justified the heavy deployment of military, national security and police officers at the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) Congress which took place on Monday, May 3, 2021.

The 54th Annual non-residential congress which was organized at the Madina Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) near Lakeside Estate in Accra saw heavy security presence particularly national security officers who wielded arms, a situation many delegates said was creating fear and panic amongst them.

But in an interaction with UniversNews, Lakeside District Police Commander, Superintendent Peter Adjei disputed assertions that the heavy security presence deployed was to intimidate delegates.

He explained that their presence was to maintain law and order at the congress with additional responsibility of enforcing strict adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols.

“…with regards to the high number of police officers here, I think it should be a positive concern; you should know that this one is different because at the previous conference, we were just there to provide security but here we are to provide dual role because we are also to ensure observance to Covid–19 safety protocols.

“So we had enough police officers who went round to ensure that actually delegates and the student body were adhering to COVID-19 safety protocol,” he said.

The NUGS Congress was under the theme “Student Leadership In the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic: Taking Stock of Our Progress, Looking Into The Future.”