The Ghana Police Service has a daunting task in ensuring peace and security at all the polling stations for the December polls.
This is because there are fewer security officers compared to the number of polling stations where electorates will cast their votes.
There is an estimated 25,000 police personnel, with 29,992 polling stations across the country, according to security analyst, Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Anning.
Kwesi Anning in an interview on The Ghana Report, said the situation raises some concern ahead of Ghana’s general elections in December.
He told host, Bernard Avle, that the situation called for a decision to be taken on the involvement of other uniformed personnel from the Fire Service and other security agencies to help secure polls.
He argued that, the number of Police officers who could actually be deployed to ensure peace at the various polling stations will considerably be less than the estimated 25,000.
“Even if we had 300,000 police officers and you took out those who guard ministers and DCEs and MCEs, that reduces the number considerably. So we need a lot of support from other uniformed officers,” he said.
He however cautioned that the military and the intelligence services must not be engaged directly in the operations.
“In 2012, there were just a little over 3,700 hotspots; In 2016, there are 7,023 out of 29,000 polling stations. That makes it about 25 per cent of all polling stations in the country being violent. That’s translates to a little over 87 constituencies; now if you look at the factual numbers that we have of uniformed officers and the kind of logistics we have, then I don’t think we are being pessimist. It is critical and realistic for those who have this kind of information to raise these concerns,” he said.
‘Police to use recruits in 2016 elections’
Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service has said that it may have to use the new police recruits to complement the efforts of current personnel in maintaining law and order for the 2016 elections.
There have been many concerns raised about the state of preparedness of the police for the polls, with most people expressing doubt about the capacity of the police to deal with election-related violence and threats.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. John Kudalor, has however given the assurance that his outfit will prepare adequately to deal with any such threat to guarantee the safety of the upcoming polls.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
