THE POLICE WON'T CONSIDER FAMILY TIES & FRIENDSHIPS IN APPLYING LAW DURING ELECTIONS 21st NOV., 2024

The Paga District Police Commander, ASP Mr. Ziaullah Khalil Ibrahim has assured citizens in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region and voters in the Chiana-Paga Constituency that, the Police will apply the law firmly and fairly during and after the country’s 2024 general elections. He gave the assurance this Thursday afternoon whilst addressing a meeting with political party youths in Paga and stressed that; “we the Police will not consider family ties and friendships while dealing with all election-related issues”. 

ASP Khalil Making His Presentation

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) with funding from the European Union (EU), convened the meeting as part of efforts to ensure peaceful and violence-free elections. This also falls under the bigger EU sponsored programme named; Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE). 

ASP Khalil noted that though the Chiana-Paga constituency has some worrying numbers of known hot-spots, the district election task force in concert with other sister security bodies is set and well-prepared to pre-empt any ugly infractions likely to occur in the course of the elections. He advised the youth against taking the law into their own hands, explaining that since members of the public are not trained security personnel, they will mostly get it wrong whenever they attempt to hijack the roles of the police on election-day. He advised that, they should rather report all such electoral offences to the police and officials of the Electoral Commission for the legally prescribed remedies to be provided.

The Police Commander described electoral violence as “any violence intended to influence the electoral conduct of voters, contestants, officials or other actors and to affect the outcome of elections” and also cited the spread of false information, use of intemperate language, prevention of eligible voters from voting, the snatching of ballot boxes and carrying weapons to voting centers as some of the causes of electoral disputes. He thus cautioned the youth against indulging in any of these; as they risk getting injured or even losing their lives in the process.

Robert Dampare, NCCE Dist. Dir.

Meanwhile earlier in his opening remarks, Kassena-Nakana West District Director for the NCCE, Mr. Robert Dampare noted that, the NCCE and other stakeholders hold the view that as Ghana gears up for the 2024 general elections on December 7, it is imperative to continue such engagements so as to foster a culture of peace and tolerance amongst the youth, who form the largest demographic group and thus, play a pivotal role in shaping the country’s political landscape.

Mr. Dampare observed that,  “it is also not uncommon to  see political party youth often at the forefront of major political activities and who consequently, end up becoming the perpetrators of political and electoral violence; therefore the rationale behind the NCCE’s call for this engagement in the Chiana-Paga Constituency of the Upper East Region”. He then grouped the youth at the meeting into focused group discussions and shared topics for them to deliberate on and make presentations. These included “Role of The Youth in Promoting Peace”, “Peaceful Co-existence and Interfaith Tolerance” and “Identifying and Countering Mis/Disinfromation”.

The National Bureau of Investigations (NIB) through its Paga Officer, Mr. Thomas Mensah, also made a presentation on the topic “Rising Trend Of Social Media Disinformation Portends Public Mistrust And Violence Against State Institutions”. Portions of the presentation which was actually delivered by Immigration Officer, DSI Robert Ubindam revealed that, the surge in the use of AI tools such as deepfake, increase in access to internet of about 68 percent and social media penetration of around 20 percent in Ghana coupled with inadequate fact checking systems and the absence of a legislation on social media usage in Ghana all create a very fertile grounds for the continuous misinformation and disinformation.

Therefore, going into the 2024 general elections with all these in the background, “extra care and vigilance must be taken else the least spread or publication of intentional malicious information and alarms, could cause unimaginable disaster in the electoral process for us”; the presentation emphasized. The presentation concluded that, misinformation and disinformation which spread rapidly through the exploitation of social media platforms only exacerbates existing conflicts, like it is happening in the Bawku Conflict and it is fast becoming a tool for discrediting political opponents during elections and all stakeholders must active roles in curbing the menace.