Reactivated election task force inaugurated
The National Election Security Task Force (NESTF) – responsible for developing strategies, systems and structures for the conduct of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections – has been reactivated.
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The task force is to serve as the front line entity for collecting intelligence on elections, analyse information to support law enforcement for national security and ensure effective co-ordination of security matters.
Membership includes representatives of the Electoral Commission (EC), Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Others are representatives of the Research Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Ministry of Local Government.
The task force was initially set up for the conduct of the general election in 2012, but had been dormant afterwards.
It will be replicated in the regions and districts to provide platforms to deal with all election security-related issues in a co-ordinated manner before they degenerate into bigger national problems.
Election security
Inaugurating the task force at a ceremony in Accra yesterday, Mr Mark Owen Woyongo, the outgoing Minister of the Interior, said as preparations for the elections were underway, it was important for security agencies and all stakeholders to plan ahead in providing the needed security to ensure the conduct of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.
He said election security planning was not an event but a process which began several months prior to the election day to ensure effectiveness.
The outgoing minister said elections were characterised by numerous security challenges, though it was on record that Ghana had successfully conducted six general elections in the Fourth Republic since 1992.
Mr Woyongo said the need to constitute the task force with all the relevant subcommittees to come up with the best strategies to ensure a successful election this year could, therefore, not be overemphasised.
For his part, the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr John Kudalor, said primarily the role of security agencies in elections was to plan and ensure security before, during and after the elections.
He said the invaluable role of the National Election Security Task Force in previous general elections held in the country could not be overstressed and it was against that background that NESTF was being reactivated in line with the common desire to continue with the good history of peaceful, free and fair elections in Ghana.
Mr Kudalor said as stakeholders in the electioneering process, it was important that personnel from all the security institutions were part of the various subcommittees of the task force.
Vigilante groups
Mr Kudalor warned that the growing phenomenon of vigilante groups that tried to take the law into their hands would not be allowed or tolerated.
Consequently, he said such vigilante groups within and outside a number of political parties would be banned.
To that end, he said the police had scheduled to meet with political parties with a view to disbanding the groups.