PRESS RELEASE
TO ALL MEDIA HOUSES
DATE: 17th NOVEMBER, 2024.
- African Electoral Institute in furtherance of its advocacy for a free, fair , transparent and accountable elections come 7th December 2024, the African electoral Institute wish to bring to the attention of the security agencies / authorities to ensure that all personnel under their command who will be deployed for the December 2024 elections dress properly or appropriately in line with their dress code.
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The African Electoral Institute is bringing this to the notice of the Security Authorities and the Electoral Commission to avoid the situation where in the past some security officers who were deployed for elections duties were dressed in such a way that it was not easy to identify them with any of the regular security services such as the Police Service, Immigration or Prisons Service , Customs and Fire Service or the Ghana Armed Forces who we are all familiar with in terms of their uniforms.
- The AEI views this very seriously since no elections could be conducted successfully without the input or participation of the Security Services hence our call for them to adhere strictly to the prescribed dress code for easy identification and also to allow for easy and early whistleblowing to flash out unscrupulous individuals or groups who would want to negate our stability as a nation.
This is equally to hold individual officers accountable if anything goes wrong under their watch or supervision.
4. The African Electoral Institute therefore wish to suggest the following measures for adoption or implementation,
a. That all Security Officers must be inspected by their various commanders to make sure that they are properly dressed before being deployed.
b. All deployed security officers must wear their name tags and other paraphernalia clearly showing where they have been drawn from.
c. All security officers deployed must not be allowed to cover their faces by wearing face mask and goggles unless that forms part of the dress code prescribed for the day(medicated glasses excluded)
d. The details of each security officer (s) deployed in any polling station must be made available to the presiding officer. These details should include
1. Service Number
2. Rank of the person
3. Full Name
4. Unit /Detachment
5. Station
e. That all the Security Officers to be deployed must be given accreditation cards by the Electoral Commission (if possible) to be put on their necks. This way, it will be easy to identify imposters or anyone whose duties or presence is not required at a particular place to be identified and asked to leave to avoid arrest.
f.That the Security Officers must be made aware that the security of the polling station where he or she will be deployed lies in their hands and therefore will be held accountable or sanctioned if anything goes wrong .
The African Electoral Institute by this presser therefore wish to suggest that the Electoral Commission and all the political parties should discuss this at the Inter Party Advisory Committee level, to come out with a clear cut decision on how the Security architecture should be on elections day by collaborating with the Security Authorities to come to a common agreement or consensus.
In conclusion, African Electoral Institute wish to reiterate its commitment to having a free, fair, transparent and accountable elections, being one of its core objectives by calling on all political parties and Ghanaians as a whole to take keen interest in the coming elections in December 2024 by lending their support to the Electoral Commission and the Security Agencies for a successful elections which outcome will be acceptable by all as being the true representation or reflection of the will of the Ghanaian people.
-END-
SIGNED
Joshua Adjin-Tettey
Director of Communications and External Relations
0540904550
Engr. Judge Hasford Quartey
Deputy Director of Communications and External Relations.
0547510174
Ex. WO1 Alhaji Yussif Mahamah
Electoral Security Department
0243311965
About Us:
African Electoral Institute ( AEI) is a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) founded to deliver sustainable electoral solutions to Emerging and Developed Democracies to strengthen, augment, and build electoral stakeholders capacity and participation on electoral issues through electoral education on voter’s rights and freedom, electoral research, election monitoring, election observation, election results collation, election security awareness and training of polling agents and elections directors underscoring the fact that “elections are won at the polling stations’’ and the participation of all identifiable electoral stakeholders in an electoral process such as Political Parties, Governmental Institutions, underpinning transparency and accountability for a free, fair, and credible elections in Africa and the wider world.
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