The Inspector-General of Ghana Police, George Akuffo Dampare, has stated that the country’s security services will ensure a peaceful and incident-free election in 2024.
He stated that because various elections in the country have been peaceful since he took over as IGP, the 2024 elections will also be incident-free.
Speaking at a meeting of the National Election Security Task Force at the Police Headquarters, Akuffo Dampare also assured the Electoral Commission’s chairperson that all individuals involved in the elections would be protected.
“We want to assure my sister (EC Chairperson) that we will continue to work with my colleagues here to ensure that just as elections in the country since I took over have been peaceful, the 2024 polls will be the same,” he said.
On his part, Chief of Defense Staff Vice Admiral Seth Amoama said the Ghana Armed Forces will be on standby to provide support to the police and other security agencies that will provide security for the 2024 elections if things get out of hand.
According to the CDS, even though the army will not be in a prime-frontal role, they will put pragmatic measures in place to aid the police if things escalate.
“We in the Armed Forces commit to our constitutionally mandated duty to protect this country and prevent any aggression from outside the country and also from within, and we do so by air, by sea, and by land, and even do so at the peril of our lives.”.
In the 2024 elections, the CDS said, “For the election proper, we may not be at the forefront of election duties, but we will be in the background to support the Police Service and other security services. The Armed Forces is ready to act accordingly when we are called upon, but for the election duties proper, I will leave it to the security services to be at the forefront. We will always be in the background to act appropriately when we are called upon.”.
The chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, who was at the stakeholder meeting, expressed her sincere gratitude to the security agencies for their unflinching security support during elections in the country.