According to the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Armed Forces will not be providing security for the general elections in 2024.
The police claim that it has been determined that they are in charge of maintaining internal security in Ghana and that, with the assistance of other paramilitary organizations like the Ghana National Fire Service, they will also be in charge of ensuring security for the elections in 2024.
During a panel discussion on JoyNews, Prince Gabriel Waabu, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), noted that all the violence recorded during the 2020 elections occurred in places where the military was present.
He claimed that the police had devised a plan that had proven effective in the most recent by-elections and would be enhanced for the elections in 2024.
“Just as I said, if you looked at 2023, the elections that we conducted, you can see that all were incident-free. This is the tactic, and we have learned from it, we have taken notes from it, and so we know where we are moving.
“… whatever happened in 2020, a lesson has been learned from it. We’re not maybe going to involve the military, as it were because it was not even the police that came out with this issue. So, it’s going to be only the police, the prisons, fire, and then immigration that are going to conduct this election. They are going to support us; it is our baby,” he said.
DCIO Waabu restated that the senior police leadership, along with Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, have resolved disagreements on who is responsible for election security.
“It’s a clear-cut issue. Every internal issue is the police duty, and that is for sure in place,” he added.
