WR POLICE COMMAND MEETS POLITICAL PARTIES (PAGE 47)

Story: Kwame Asiedu Marfo & Juliet Aguair, Takoradi

THE acting Western Regional Police Commander, Mr Robert Mark Azu, has noted that this year’s elections provide a landmark in the annals of Ghanaian politicking.
He said it was therefore necessary that everything should be done to promote and sustain the democratic environment that the country was currently enjoying.
“Election 2008 poses a big challenge to all stakeholders basically due to the fact that for the first time in the political history of this country, two successively elected governments would be competing with other political parties to determine who forms the next government,” he said.
Mr Azu was speaking at a stakeholders meeting on Election 2008 with registered political parties in Takoradi.
The meeting, which was organised by the Western Regional Police Command, was attended by representatives of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Mr Azu said Ghanaians owed it a collective duty to ensure that the campaigns were held in an atmosphere devoid of insults and rancour and that they should be guided by the fact that in all competitions, there was only one winner.
He said the legal framework governing electioneering, the Public Order Act, 1994 Act 491, should be respected, explaining that “the Act seeks to regulate the conduct of public events with the sole objective that such events are held without incident”.
“I wish to assure you all that the police would apply the Act without any doubt,” he said adding that “in addition, we have resolved to provide protection to all political parties without discrimination”.
In this regard, Mr Azu appealed to all parties not to hesitate to request police assistance when the need arose.
He urged political parties to educate their teeming supporters and sympathisers to refrain from acts that were likely to provoke others and to always bear in mind that political opponents were not enemies.
On the media, he pointed out that the use of inflammatory language must be avoided, saying that “sensationalism must not be tolerated but be guided by the truth and accuracy”.
The Western Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr Stephen Opoku-Mensah, explained that a polling station was a public place and that it was opened to everybody so far as that person did not commit an electoral offence during elections.
He further explained that candidates and party agents could be at the polling stations during the elections, if they did not commit an offence.
“We are expecting a level playing field and that the power of incumbency should not be used to the disadvantage of other political parties,” he stressed.
The Takoradi Constituency Chairman of the NPP, Abdul-Munin Issah, assured the police that the party would organise its activities within the confines of the law.
He urged the media to be accurate and report issues as they happen and avoid sensationalism, which could bring problems.
The Western Regional Secretary of the NDC, Mr Joe R. D. Kobinah, said the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) should be adequately resourced to effectively educate the public on what they were expected to do during the political campaigns and  elections.
The Western Regional Security Co-ordinator, Mr Moses Leo Blay, said this year’s election was a major challenge not only to the political parties, but also the electorate.
He therefore urged all stakeholders to rise up to the occasion, saying that “it is crucial that 2008 elections come and go without any incident”.
The Western Regional Director of the NCCE, Mr Nti Berko, said the commission would intensify its public education to sensitise the electorate on the need to effectively take part in the forthcoming elections.