EC and Police in Upper West declare readiness ahead of Monday polls

The Electoral Commission (EC) and the police in the Upper West Region have declared their readiness ahead of the Monday, December 7, 2020 polls. According to Mr Ali Osman, the Regional Director of the EC, all election materials including ballot papers were received, making them fully prepared for a smooth electoral process in the region.

“I just checked from the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) on the issue of vehicles to transport election materials to the various constituencies and I can assure you everything is ready for a smooth exercise on Monday”, he said.

Mr Osman who spoke in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Wa, noted that the EC had recruited a total of 7,338 election officials to conduct the elections across all the 1,223 polling stations in the region.

“As for preparedness, we are more than fully prepared and we encourage the general public to turn out and vote in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity”, he said.

We don’t want any violence at the polling stations; they should just come out and vote after which they should return to their various homes to relax and only return to the polling station after 17:00hrs in the evening to witness the counting”, the EC Regional Director said.

Mr Osman said political parties should be represented at the polling stations by their agents but admonished these party agents to behave themselves well to avoid misunderstandings at the polling stations and contribute to a smooth electoral process.

He said the 24hours set by the Commission to declare the results was a target, which they were working towards to achieve, adding it should not be something Ghanaians should bother so much about.

Meanwhile, Inspector Gideon Ohene Boateng, the Upper West Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) assured of the preparedness of the police to deploy enough men to all the polling stations in the region to secure the elections.

He reminded political parties that no political rallies would be allowed on Sunday, December 6, 2020 and encouraged them to abide by the directive.

Inspector Boateng noted that no drinking spot located within 500 metres away from a polling station shall be allowed to open and called for compliance from the public.

He said the region was peaceful and the police would not allow anyone to disturb the peace of the region, stressing that anyone who dared to do so would be ruthlessly dealt with by the police.