Troublemakers will be ruthlessly dealt with on voting day — CDS
The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Air Marshal Michael Samson-Oje, has served notice that the security agencies will deal ruthlessly with people who will foment trouble during the December 7 polls.
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During an interaction with the media in Accra yesterday, he assured the public that the security agencies would not cede their constitutional responsibility to protect lives and defend the sovereignty of the country to any group of persons.
“I want to sound a note of caution to any person or group of persons who intend to cause any form of trouble during the elections to rethink.
“Any unlawful act will be met with the force that it deserves because we are ready to apply the laws of the land appropriately. As far as these elections are concerned, no one is bigger than the country,” he added.
Present at the interactive session were the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr John Kudalor; the Chief of Staff of the GAF, Major General Sampson Adeti; the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Roland Affail Monney, and other key security figures.
The session was a platform for the media and the security agencies, who are key stakeholders in the elections, to explore ways in which they could collaborate to ensure that the polls were conducted in a free and secure environment.
The occasion was also used to brief the media on the state of preparedness by the security agencies to police the electoral process.
Security concerns
There have been violent clashes between supporters of the two main parties contesting the polls, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in some parts of the country.
But a confident Air Marshal Samson-Oje allayed all forms of fear, stating that the GAF were on high alert and would not falter in their quest to protect the country’s democracy.
Media are key partners
Turning his attention to the media, he said it was important for journalists to play their watchdog role well, adding that the press had the power to build a strong democracy or destroy it by the nature of their reportage.
“The media have become a political and institutional force whose influence cannot be underestimated. The media are seen as double-edged that can ensure peace and security in these elections or a recipe for violence. So I call on the media to be cautious about the security implications of their reportage on electoral issues,” he urged.
Police readiness
Responding to some questions posed by journalists on the state of preparedness of the security agencies, the Director in charge of Operations at the Police Headquarters, Commissioner of Police (COP) Christian Tetteh Yohuno, assured the public that the police had gathered enough intelligence to respond swiftly to any acts of violence.
“We do not want to scare anyone from voting, so we will put one or two policemen at all polling stations. But we have the patrol team on the ground and a rapid response team on the alert and when all these fail, the military will be called to support,” he said.
COP Yohuno stated categorically that rumours making the rounds that the police were conniving with the EC to rig the elections through inflation of the special voters list had no basis.
He also stated that activities at border towns would be monitored to ensure that the country’s security was intact.
