Ghana Deploys Police Ahead of Court Ruling

The police spokesman in Ghana says
over 30,000 officers have been deployed
in sensitive and strategic locations
across the country ahead of the
Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday on the
validity of the country’s 2012
presidential election.

Cephas Arthur says officers have been
well briefed to enforce the country’s laws
to maintain peace after the court hands
down its ruling.

“According to the police administration,
every police officer in the country will be
on duty as far as the verdict of the court
dispute is concerned,” said Arthur.
“Everybody has been adequately briefed
as to what to do and what to expect. We
are also going to have those who are
going to be on the standby to be called
upon to manage rioting situations and
others.”

Arthur says the mass deployment
demonstrates the readiness of police
officers to maintain law and order.
“We want to assure the people of Ghana
that their police are up and doing. They
are adequately prepared mentally,
logistically and even in terms of
training. And that they [the public] can
rely on their police service to provide
security, prevent the occurrence of crime
and when possible, when they occur
they will be on hand to quell them,” said
Arthur. “We are calling on them to
exercise patience and keep cool and
provide support for the police.”

Citing voter alleged irregularities, the
main opposition New Patriotic Party
(NPP) petitioned the court seeking to
annul President John Dramani
Mahama’s electoral victory in the
December 2012 presidential vote.
The Supreme Court plans to hand down
its ruling of the electoral challenge today
(Thursday).

Arthur underscored the importance of
protecting the country’s leaders as well
as sensitive installations.
“We are going to have those who are
going to provide security to vulnerable
persons and vulnerable areas. By that
we mean very important personalities in
the society, it could be the president,
Nana Akufo-Addo, it could also be the
lawyers of the two factions in court and
it could be the judges who are
adjudicating in this case,” said Arthur.

“We are also talking about [protecting]
vital installations like power stations,
Bank of Ghana, Electoral Commission
and other places.”
Religious and civil society groups have
called for peace in the run up to the
court ruling.

Arthur says senior police officials have
been working with religious leaders as
well as supporters of the ruling National
Democratic Congress (NDC) and the
opposition NPP as part of an effort to
ensure peace.
“For the first time the police have gone
into a kind of pacifist approach towards
provision of security. Where we have
met some identifiable groupings or
stakeholders, including the Islamic
community, the Christian Council, the
National House of Chiefs, the National
Peace Council, the Parliamentary
Committee on Defense and Interior and
the National Media Commission, the
Youth of the NDC and the NPP to
discuss the best way of doing this such
that we don’t create a situation, which
will demand the deployment of the
forces,” said Arthur.

Ghana Mahama