The National Election Security Task Force, made up of heads of security agencies and some para security agencies, is responsible for planning and providing a conducive atmosphere to ensure security before, during and after elections.

They will serve as the frontline for election intelligence gathering and analysis of information in support of law enforcement for national security.

Apart from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffu Dampare, and members of the management board of the Ghana Police Service, a median meeting to activate and operationalise the National Election Security Task Force attracted the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed forces, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama; The Comptroller General of the Ghana Immigration Service, Kwame Asuah Takyi; the Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Julius A. Kuunuor; the Director-General of Ghana Prisons Service, Isaac Kofi Egyir, and the Deputy Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Emmanuel Ohene.

Others were the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Kathleen Addy, and representatives of the Ghana Ambulance Service.

We won’t compromise

The Inspector General of Police, Dr Dampare, who chairs the Taskforce, said it would not compromise on the security and peace enjoyed by the country.

Elections, he said, played a critical role in the country’s democratic dispensation hence the need to provide the requisite security to create an enabling and conducive atmosphere for the electorate to go to the polls and exercise their constitutional right without fear.

The Taskforce, the IGP pointed out, had become an integral part of Ghana’s election processes, and therefore, its democratic practices.

He said the Ghana Police Service would collaborate and work together with all the other security agencies and the national election security task force to ensure there was peace, law and order across the country before, during and after the elections.

“As a taskforce we will continue with the history of peaceful, free, fair elections in the country” Dr Dampare said, and expressed the confidence that the Taskforce would play its roles effectively and efficiently to deliver on its mandate of helping to secure free, fair, transparent and credible elections.

“On our watch, we have decided not to take anything for granted.

Lifeblood of society

Speaking at the opening of the first meeting of the National Security Task Force in Accra, the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Mensa, said elections had become the lifeblood of society and the quest for power had become fierce.

“In the bid to capture power, our politicians and their supporters use all manner of methods to achieve their goals.

In the wake of this our security and safety are not spared,” she said.

She said another phenomenon was the use of social media by some faceless personalities to disseminate fake news during elections, adding that such acts created disaffection, undermining the credibility and integrity of elections and dented the image of institutions, such as the Electoral Commission, the Ghana Police Service and other security agencies.

She urged the Cyber Security Unit of the Ghana Police Service to take up the phenomenon in a timely manner to bring persons behind fake news propagation to book.

“I have no doubt that as members of the Election Security Task Force we will find practical solutions to deal with these threats”; she said.

She applauded the IGP and his team for the comprehensive security arrangements put in place during the recent bye-elections and “the security architecture put in place gives us hope of things to come in the upcoming district level elections and in the December General Election.”

Mrs Mensah pledged the commission’s willingness to work closely with the election security task force and key stakeholders to ensure all elections were free, fair and violence free.

District level elections

The Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed forces, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, said the upcoming district level election was a prelude to the national elections scheduled for December 7, 2024.

“From all indications next year's election would be a very crucial one — a make or break election and as custodians of national security we are called upon to ensure a peaceful election as we have done in previous elections”.

The CDS urged all to stand up to the occasion and distinguish themselves by discharging their duties fairly and firmly to the expectation of the citizenry.

He pledged the commitment of the Ghana Armed Forces to protect the country and prevent any aggression from outside and within the country, ‘’and we do so by air, by sea and by land and even do so at the peril of our lives.”

Vice Admiral Amoama said although the Ghana Armed forces might not be in the forefront of election duties “we will be in the background to support and in case situations degenerate we will be ready to act accordingly when we are called upon.”