Be proactive to avert election clashes, security agencies urged.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Robert Ayalingo, Brong-Ahafo Regional Police Commander, on Monday charged Municipal and District Security Councils to be proactive and help avert tendencies that could spark violence and mar the coming elections.

He asked the Councils to identify flash points in their respective municipalities and districts and inform the Police to beef-up security in such areas.

DCOP Ayalingo said these when he addressed more than 140 officers from the Ghana Police Service (GPS), Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the opening of a three-day training programme for law enforcement agencies in Sunyani.

The programme, aimed at equipping participants with the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with the threat of election violence, was organised by Executive Diligence Ghana Limited, a consultancy firm working to promote peaceful election and sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID), a United Kingdom Agency for International Development (UKAID).

DCOP Ayalingo said Ghana had become the beacon of democracy in Africa, as it had conducted five successful elections in which power changed hands two times from government to opposition.

He said research into previous elections had shown security personnel were sometimes found wanting concerning the appropriate response towards some electoral offences.

The Regional Police Commander told the officers District and Municipal Assembly elections were not different from the general election and urged them to exhibit high sense of professionalism during the voting day.

DCOP Ayalingo said the police administration would not tolerate minor excuses from officers who would be deployed to man the various polling stations saying “petty excuses such as I want to urinate or visit the nature’s call will not be tolerable in the voting day”.

He advised them to demonstrate a high sense of civility in the course of their duties to maintain public trust and confidence.

He said international organisations such as the DIFD had always supported Ghana’s democracy in diverse ways and these supports, he said challenged the security agencies to ensure that the right thing was done as “whole world is watching us and that we should adhere to international election principles and norms, especially respect for human rights”.

Ambassador Oliver Lawluvi, Senior Executive Director of the Executive Diligence Ghana Limited, said elections had become a major flash point in most multi-party democratic processes.

He said the pages of African history were dotted with horrific incidents of election violence which often inflicted unspeakable physical and emotional wounds on individuals, families, communities and nations.

Such wounds, he said, even if they heal, leave unforgettable scars that constantly remind the victims of the atrocities that have been visited upon them.

He expressed regret that political power and its trappings had become so attractive that many stakeholders prepared to break all rules of engagement to gain power.

Ambassador Lawluvi said this and other reasons were why the Diligence Ghana saw the need to equip the police and other security agencies with the requisite skills and prepare them adequately so they could contribute meaningfully for peaceful elections.