Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police, Supt Sheila Abayie-Buckman, told GhanaWeb in an exclusive interview that police personnel have taken part in various exercises aimed a sharpening their skills.
“I am sure you can attest that we improve day-by-day. We will be highly professional; within and externally, there have been several activities including in-service training, including watching videos and scenarios from elsewhere; including engaging the people who often cause the trouble, including engaging traditional leasers,” she said.
Giving updates about the police’s preparedness for the upcoming polls, she revealed that the Service with over 6,000 members, will ensure that there is peace before and after the polls.
She said the unfortunate event at Ayawaso West Wuogon during the by-election in 2019 should not be used as a yardstick to assess the Service.
“Majority of the people have the confidence and trust in our preparedness. We cannot use Ayawaso as a yardstick for the general elections. The general elections have been constituted since 1992.
“There have been incidents, yes but Ayawaso should not reflect the entire totality of presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. Although we have policed several elections in this country, we take every election as a different event,” she assured.
The violence that characterised the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election remains one of Ghana’s violent election-related incidents.
Armed security personnel fired shots and brutalised members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) alleged to be fomenting trouble.
A Commission of Inquiry was established by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to make a full, faithful and impartial enquiry into the circumstances of, and establish the facts leading to the events and associated violence during the by-election on January 31, 2019.
