Eleven member election task force inaugurated in Tema

An eleven member election security taskforce has been inaugurated to oversee to the smooth running of this year’s election in the Tema Region.

The task force is composed of members of all the state security agencies, the Electoral Commission, National Commission on Civic Education and the Information Services Department.

It will have six main sub-committees namely; ballot security, media and communications, transport and logistics, budget and finance, personnel mobilization and deployment and intelligence, investigations, prosecutions and legal.

The Taskforce which is chaired by the Tema Regional Police Commander, DCOP Paul Manly Awini will plan, organize, implement, monitor and coordinate preparations of the security agencies to create conducive security space for the elections.

In an address, the chairman of the Taskforce DCOP Paul Manly Awini said, his outfit had put in place adequate measures to ensure that the region experience incidence free elections during the November 7 polls.

According to him, the command is embarking on a programme of building the capacities of the personnel for the polls in security, public order management and crowd control.

“Two hundred (200) personnel have already befitted from the programme and it is anticipated that all personnel in the region would go through the training by 30th June 2016, well ahead of the elections,” DCOP Awini said.

He said the command is currently working hard to set up two election security structures including a Regional Media Monitoring desk and Joint Operations Centre (JOC).

DCOP Awini added that there is also ongoing stakeholder engagement with the various groups in the region including political parties, civil society based organization as well as youth, women, religious and identifiable groups.

“We are sharing the contact phone numbers of all police commanders in the region with these stakeholders while collecting and compiling the contact phone numbers of the stakeholders for distribution to police commanders,” he emphasized.

DCOP Paul Awini, who acknowledged the fact that members of the taskforce may have political affiliations assured that the taskforce, will be neutral in the discharge of their responsibilities.

“I want to assure Ghanaians that the officers and men in the uniforms are men of character, they are men of integrity and they are professionals,” he said.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister Hon. Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo who was the guest of honour commended the Tema Regional Police command for

He said the Taskforce will be the pivot around which the election security planning, organization, implementation, monitoring and coordination shall revolve.

Hon. Afotey Agbo charged the members of the taskforce to take their responsibilities very seriously and work around the clock to create the right security space for this year’s general elections to take place in a free, fair, transparent and peaceful manner.

Story by: Michael Creg Afful

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