30,000 security personnel for District level elections

Accra, Dec. 20, GNA - The National Electoral Security Task

Force (NESTF) on Monday said over 30,000 security personnel

would be deployed to police the 2010 non-partisan District Level

Elections on Tuesday, December 28. "The security deployment is to ensure the maintenance of law and

order, protection of life and property and to deal professionally and

firmly with any breaches of the peace and any implications before,

during and after the polls," Mr Mohammed Alhassan, Deputy

Inspector General of Police, said at the inauguration of the task force

in Accra. "The NESTF is also mandated to adopt strategic and appropriate

security measures to ensure orderliness and safety of electoral

officials, electoral materials and the electorate," he said. NESTF is multi-disciplinary taskforce comprising the Ghana

Armed Forces, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Fire Service, Ghana

Prison Service, Ghana Immigration Service and other security

operatives. The Minister of the Interior, Mr Martin A. B. K. Amidu,

inaugurated the task force. Mr Alhassan, speaking on behalf of the IGP, said the task force

would also monitor and co-ordinate the activities of all sub-

committees established by the National Task Force and liaise with all

competent authorities to marshal all the needed human, material and

financial resources for effective policing. He charged the task force to work as a team to avoid issuance of

conflicting directives which often created loopholes in security

operations. Mr Martin Amidu urged the task force to play its role in the

election within the strict parameters of the law. "No officer deployed for any assignment at any electoral area or

polling station should under any circumstance be seen or perceived to

be championing partisan causes. "You must remain professional and perform your duties in a fair

and firm manner. Security and intelligence have no political party." Mr Amidu who inaugurated the task force reminded security

personnel of their mandate to maintain a secure and stable

environment for legitimate constitutional activities to take place. "It is our responsibility to ensure that the process of deepening

constitutional democracy by getting the people involved in decision-

making is effectively achieved by taking governance to the doorsteps

of the people in an orderly and secure environment. This is the

bottom line of participatory democracy in practical terms," he said. Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (Rtd), National Security

Adviser, reminded the security officers that 93once in uniform, your

loyalty is to the state; you must remain neutral to ensure peace". "The sub-region is still volatile due to electoral-related

disputes...The District Level Elections therefore should serve as dress

rehearsal for Elections 2012...You must therefore be civil but firm in

dealing with electoral-related violence as your role in policing elections

is vital." Mr Joseph Yieleh-Chireh, Minister of Local Government and

Rural Development, briefed the security personnel on the new Local

Government Act 1967. He said the review of the decentralisation law was meant to re-

energise the concept and make it meaningful to the country's

development agenda. The Minister therefore tasked the security personnel to study the

law, especially the changes and rules governing the conduct of the

District Level Elections.