The Tema Police Regional Command has held a stakeholders’ meeting with the various political parties and the media in Tema to plan towards a peaceful election in the region.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Barima Tweneboah Sasraku II, Tema Police Regional Commander, said it was important for the Police to meet with the stakeholders especially the representatives of the political parties to agree on the best way to keep peace before, during and after the elections.
DCOP Sasraku noted that the paramount thing all stakeholders wanted was peace, adding that as Ghanaians cherished democracy, they must tolerate each other’s views irrespective of their political affiliations.
He therefore asked stakeholders to propagate the message of peace and togetherness instead of violence and misunderstanding.
To the political parties, he reiterated the need for issue based campaigning devoid of verbal attacks, adding that the parties must not undertake activities at the same time in the same vicinity as that could degenerate into clashes.
He asked the political parties to give their itinerary to the Command to enable it plan its deployment of men and logistics effectively.
The Police Commander asked political parties to strictly adhere to the Public Order Act, saying that under the Representation of the People’s Law, PNDC Law 284, bribery, inducement, interference with the electoral process, defacing of EC notices and political parties posters among others, were criminal offences.
DCOP Sasraku also urged the media to play their role of educating, informing and entertaining the public well instead of using their platforms for the playing of war drums and publishing what would inflame passions.
He also appealed to the Electoral Commission’s representatives in the region to be fair to all parties and clearly spell out the election processes to all to avoid misunderstanding.
He assured that measures would be put in place for the electioneering, revealing that the Command had over 2,000 personnel who together with other state security agencies would provide the needed security.
He disclosed that his outfit was taking care of the whole region which spanned Tema, Ashaiman, Kpone-Katamanso, Dodowa, Prampram and Ada. According to him, the Tema Police Region was key and played an active role in the Greater Accra Region.
Mr Manasseh Ofosuhene Asante, Tema Metropolitan Director of the EC, disclosed that at the end of nomination filing, only the ruling New Patriotic Party ((NPP) and main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had successfully filed.
Mr Asante urged those who registered during the one day limited registration exercise and were issued with off line cards to visit the EC office to collect their voter ID cards, saying that even though they could vote with the one given, they could not use it as a national ID for other activities including bank transactions.
The media personnel appealed to the Command to educate its officers on the role of media in the political process and stop them from harassing journalists and seizing their gadgets during election coverage.
Representatives of the political parties pledged to engage in peaceful campaigning and appealed to the Police to urgently handle issues reported to them as according to one party, a complaint on poster defacement reported to the police for over three weeks had not received any attention, a situation he said could bring about mistrust.
