UK to train 16,000 Ghana security personnel for December 7 polls

Ghana goes to the polls December 7, 2012 to elect a President and Parliamentarians and the country’s security agencies have indicated they are “ever ready” to protect the ballot, people and property before, during and after the elections.

In this vein, the UK government says it will be training some 16,000 security personnel across Ghana ahead of the December 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

“Security personnel will be drawn from the Ghana Armed Forces, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Ghana Police Service, Immigration, Prisons and Fire Services as well as the Ghana Ambulance Services,” the British High Commission in Accra said on its website September 20, 2012.

The High Commission indicated that the nationwide training programme “will ensure security personnel understand their roles and responsibilities during the elections”.

Speaking at launch of the programme, the British High Commissioner, Peter Jones, said the elections were very important to Ghana and Africa at large.

He revealed that the UK government had similarly offered technical and financial support to the Electoral Commission and the Judiciary towards ensuring free, fair and transparent elections.

The Minister for Interior, William Kwasi Aboah who also attended the launch was grateful that the British government for preparing a comprehensive programme to build the capacity of the security agencies throughout the country so they can deal with unforeseen security challenges before, during and after the Presidential elections.

The Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Safo Kantanka, noted that plans were far advanced to allow personnel of the security services to vote before December 7 since their work would demand that they be posted outside their various stations.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye was also in attendance.

By Ekow Quandzie