Ayawaso Commission: No masked men in polling stations – EC Boss

General News of Saturday, February 16, 2019

Source: dailyguideafrica.com

2019-02-16

THE PRESIDENT OF THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION (EC), Mrs Jean Mensa, took part in her turn yesterday at the inquiry commission chaired by Judge Emile Short investigating the incident of the shooting of the police station. by-election of Ayawaso West Wuogon.

She categorically denied that there were masked men in polling stations where people were voting. She also denied the existence of 15 heavily armed police or national security personnel in each of the 137 polling stations during the elections.

She said that she personally visited some of the polling stations and said: "Up to five to five police officers and members of the Ghana Immigration Service maximum were stationed," insisting that "I still maintain information that we have not received any masked man. in polling stations. "

The president of the European Commission was the victim of a baptism of fire while the commission, composed of three members, asked him several questions during the hearings of the day before at the castle of Osu in Accra.

However, she seemed calm and knowledgeable in answering questions, especially the difficult questions of a commission member, Professor Henrietta Mensah Bonsu.

She maintained the EC's previous position on the shooting incident allegedly taking place at the residence of Delali Kwasi Brempong, parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and on the prevailing atmosphere in the different parties. polling stations on January 31, 2019.

The president insisted that the voting in the polls was largely peaceful, with the exception of a "little panic" at the polling station of La Bawaleshie school, where she said that the vote was interrupted for about 45 minutes due to the shooting.

The Head of the EC admitted that the vote at the La-Bawaleshie polling station had been temporarily disrupted because the EC President and officials had had to rush to protect the EC material, the fear created by the fire.

According to her, the shooting occurred 140 meters from the polling station in La-Bawaleshie.

She added that local residents, frightened by fear, had also rushed to the polling station to find shelter and that all this had contributed to disrupting the electoral process in this region during this period.

No masked man

Nevertheless, the EC leader argued that the voting at the other 136 stations was extremely peaceful and that voters were never terrorized by masked men, as was also reported.

Pointy denial

Ms. Mensa, former Executive Director of the Policy Analysis Think Tank – Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) – challenged the allegations contained in the report of the Coalition of National Election Observers (CODEO) which suggested a link between the violence that has erupted in the constituency and the entire electoral process, claiming that the EC had conducted a thorough investigation.

She insisted that unlike a CODEO report that a policeman had been beaten at the prison polling station, there was only a disagreement between the police officer and a member of the police. national security.

She stated that the police officer had never been physically badaulted as he claimed and that the disagreement was about a sitting position and that there had never been any physical aggression.

Security gap

Although the President denied these accusations, the committee noted a security gap between the EC and election security agencies, particularly in terms of operational planning.

Professor Mensah Bonsu therefore asked the head of the European Commission what kind of advice she would give her if she was informed that national security would conduct an operation in a residence near a polling station on election day .

Ms. Mensah said that the police were able to handle election-related problems and had to take control of the affairs.

Police account

When George Alexander Mensah, Director General Operations, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), stated that the operational order of the Greater Accra Regional Command did not include the list of the various agencies that would be deployed during the -selection

"They do not control these operational agencies. Only the composite operational order from the national headquarters can involve the different agencies ".

On the contrary, he told the commission that his operational order was for the Ghanaian police. He indicated that the police would work with other security agencies, the other agencies being under the control of the police, who badist them in their tasks. .

"The election task force is still headed by a police commander, we have the directors of BNI, we have the military component, the national fire service, the CEP, all the security services and the services who are also part of the working group, "he explained.

He also stated that he was unaware of the operations of the National Security Working Group on the day of the by-election and also denied that the vehicles occupied by NS officers belonged to the police.

"The National Operations Department has never used this type of vehicle before. Since I took office, I had never seen this vehicle in the department. "

He also revealed to the commission that the police had not at any time appealed to the SWAT to help maintain the order.

He revealed that he had heard of the incident of the shooting after the incident and that he could not investigate because the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had set up a committee to investigate what would normally have been the responsibility of the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate.

"To my knowledge, the committee set up by the IGP was responsible for investigating all these issues, including the member's badault," he added.

DCOP Mensah also revealed to the commission that he had not prepared an "after action" report after the bullet incident, as such a report had to be prepared by the regional command and then submitted to the # 39; IGP.

"The operation was under the direct supervision of the region and the report would have to be submitted for that purpose and not my department," he said.

He also mentioned the fact that he had not received any official report regarding the events at the by-election.

He accepted, however, that Nova Scotia officers could be police officers attached to the agency as approximately 36 officers are attached to national security in the country.

"Once these people are sent to this unit, we expect unit commanders to act in the right way. And if they do not do it right, we expect them to write to the police so that appropriate action can be taken. "

During his appearance before the commission, the East Legon District Police Commander, DSP George Asare, said that the security working group would have fired shots on that fateful day.

He added that four to five shots had been fired in front of the house of the NDC parliamentary candidate and that there were about 20 shells of empty guns on the scene, according to what he said. he saw.

According to him, the whole incident began after the security forces hired people in front of the NDC candidate's home and asked them why they were there.

During the interrogation, he claimed that the security personnel had tried to bring one of the motorbikes, but that the population had resisted the attempt.

He explained to the commission how two of the seven suspects taken to the East Legon police station had been slightly injured.

According to him, the suspects were recovered at the polling station of La-Bawaleshie School by the National Security Patrol Team.

He added that the suspects had been arrested after being ordered to leave the polling station, but that they refused and that, at the same time, they "attacked" the team. patrol.

The meeting resumed at 10 am on Monday, February 18, 2019.