The Ghana Police Service says it will disband all pseudo-security groups who provide security for political parties ahead of the November election. These groups who claim to be protecting party functionaries and safeguarding their political fortunes appear to be competing with the Police over maintenance of law and order.
Two security groups [Azorka boys and Bolga bull dogs] believed to be associated with the two major political parties in the country, NDC and NPP respectively were accused of engaging in violent crimes during the Talensi by- election held in the Upper East region in 2015. The two groups disrupted the election process and destroyed some electoral materials. Speaking to Citi News after a meeting with an ECOWAS Media delegation in Accra, the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor indicated that a special task force would soon be formed to particularly to disband these groups to ensure a peaceful election.
“We have to gird our loins to ensure that the good people of this country enjoy a very fair and transparent election . We are not going to be partisan, we understand that most of these political parties have appendages…what we are going to do is to take steps to be in contact with the AG’s department to engage the leadership of the various parties to disband these groups.After they have been disbanded and they still indulge in illegal or unlawful behaviour or conduct then the law will take course.
More recruitment
He also hinted that there will be a massive recruitment exercise in the service to augment the current number of personnel in force ahead of the election.
“The election is a big event and so far as I am concerned, they are going to increase the number of polling stations to be about 29,000. So far if you put about two people at a polling station it is going to be 58,000 which we don’t have so personnel wise we don’t have so we are trying to recruit more.”
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
– See more at: http://citifmonline.com/2016/01/18/election-police-to-crush-political-vigilante-groups/#sthash.ZQuzpVIj.dpuf
