The West Gonja municipal assembly’s Chief Executive Officer and and Chairman of the Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC), hon Muhazu Saeed Jibreel is calling for calm as the nation goes to the polls to elect leaders for the next four (4) years to manage the country.
Mr Muhazu appealed to the public to obey security measures put in place at all the polling centers to ensure smooth elections.
The MCE stated this at a press briefing on the security situation in the West Gonja municipal assembly of the Savannah on Saturday 5th December, 2020.
On 7th December Ghanaians will go to the polls to elect their president and parliamentarians and as usual the political atmosphere is charged and quite tense. The West Gonja MUSEC as a result is urgent the voting public to strictly adhere to and respect all the security measures put in place at all voting centres on election day by the Electoral Commission and security apparatus, he said.
To avoid having issues with the security services, he appealed that voters are advised to leave the polling stations immediately after casting their votes allowing only accredited persons in respect of the elections to do their work. Party agents should respect their rules of engagement, that is if they have issues at the polling stations they should resolve them using the legal and appropriate structures and avoid taking the law into their own hands. The Presiding Officers should always be their first point of contact for issue resolutions.
However, the MCE cautioned that “if anyone impedes the voting process, they would have bones to pick with the laws of the land”.
Mr. Muhazu recalled that during the last constituency voter registration exercise, the area witnessed some disturbances and violent confrontations at some polling stations and the MUSEC cannot rule out the possibility of similar clashes, although the municipal assembly doesn’t pray for it.
He added that the constituency has a number of flash points and probably some unknown and unforeseen ones. This is because every polling station is a potential flash point.
It is in the light of this that there is a military deployment in the constituency led by a Warrant Officer. Their mission is to identify potential flash points and also an election duties.
The opposition NDC on Friday December 4, 2020, raised alarm about some 17 military men illegally lodging at a guest house at Busunu, a farming community in the assembly.
The MCE clarified that the military were there for peace keeping, election related issues and due to shortage of accommodation in Damongo.
“I wish to indicate that MUSEC decided to accommodate the uniform men at Busunu due to shortage of hotel accommodation in the Damongo township”.
He assured that nothing hidden is planned against the smooth conduct of the elections in the constituency and that no one should panic.
“I want to inform and assure the general public that no one should panic over the presence of these uniform men in the constituency. They are here to protect you and I. Their mission is a peaceful one”.
The MCE called on all citizens to respect the rules of engagement of the elections process and not allow any person(s) to use them to destabilize the peace we have enjoyed over the years. Ghana has an enviable record of conducting peaceful elections and as a result we should use this year’s election to consolidate our gains. I am fully convinced Ghana will come out of this elections in peace and not in pieces. we have done it before and we can do it again, he said.
On the general security of West Gonja municipal assembly, the Chief Executive said the spate of armed robbery within the municipality has been almost eliminated and for some time now the area has not witness any arm robbery cases. He pledged the resolve by MUSEC to continue to provide the needed leadership for a more secured and incident free society for the good of the people. The municipality has been relatively peaceful and incident-free. The Security Committee must be commended for the proactive measures instituted for crime and conflict control and prevention.
About 200 service personnel have been deployed to keep peace before, during and after the elections in the constituency.
The Savannah region is expected to receive at least 400 service Personal to provide peace for 2020 general elections.
The district Police Commander, DSP Johnson Hesse, Task Force leader, Attoh Solomon, the military and BNI leadership, the Municipal Coordinating Director, Philemon Ankorle, and other staff were present to grace the program.
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