|
EC asks security, electoral officers to coordinate their
activities
Tamale, Dec. 19, Ghanadot/GNA- Mr. Sylvester Kanyi, Northern
Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC) has
appealed for effective coordination between security
officers and personnel of the EC to ensure proper conduct of
the 28 December 28 Presidential run-off elections.
He noted that during the December 7 general elections the
deployment of security officers to the districts was a
problem as some of the officers arrived in the districts
when the presiding officers had already moved away with the
ballot boxes.
He said this showed a lack of proper coordination as the
electoral regulations indicated that as soon as a ballot box
containing election materials were sealed it must be
escorted by a security officer.
Mr. Kanyi was speaking at a workshop on “Elections and
security management” organized by the Ministry of the
Interior in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer
Foundation (KAF) in Tamale on Thursday.
The workshop, which was on the theme: “The role of the
security services and stakeholders in elections, Post and
pre-elections analysis”, brought together the military,
police, immigration and customs officers and other
stakeholders in the election process.
Mr. Kanyi said the provision of fuel; food ration and
allowances for the security personnel were also not well
defined since there were instances where the security
personnel had to approach the district electoral officers
for such logistics.
He said in some districts, vehicles meant to convey security
personnel to the polling stations simply leave them at their
destinations and did not bring them back to Tamale.
Mr. Kanyi said, there was also a problem with the use of a
helicopter in the “overseas” areas of the region because the
helicopter arrived late in Yagaba in West Mamprusi after
most of the election officers had already left for their
polling stations.
“The helicopter deployed never returned to bring them back
to Yagaba”, Mr. Kanyi said.
The Regional Electoral Officer said although the use of
motorbikes was very essential due to the many inaccessible
areas in the region his request for 30 motor bikes was
reduced to four.
Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of the Interior, in a speech
read for him, appealed to the Chief Justice to ensure that
the special courts set up on her instance to deal with
election related disputes to quickly dispose of all
outstanding electoral disputes to help promote peaceful
elections.
He recounted some of the unfortunate instances where the
press had contributed to sparking off civil wars in other
African countries due to electoral disputes and urged the
Ghanaian press to be wary of similar trends.
“Please, as journalist, stick to your core business of
educating; informing and entertaining the public, you must
concentrate on the issues that are relevant to the
development of the country. You must avoid attacks and
insults on personalities and opposing political parties”,
Dr. Addo-Kufuor said.
Mr. Issac Owusu-Mensah, Manager of the Konrad-Adenauer
Foundation said the programme formed part of the
organisation’s collaboration with the Ministry of the
Interior on promoting public safety as a mechanism of
democratic development.
He said the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary elections
produced a form of fear and unnecessary anxiety in the body
politic of the country with some disgruntled individuals
preaching that Ghana would burn.
He said a number of stakeholders who however believed Ghana
deserved better, also embarked on peaceful election related
activities, adding that, this had not only moved Ghana into
another pedestal in democratic ranking in the world but had
also portrayed to the world that some African countries are
capable of achieving excellent mark in a democratic test.
GNA
|
