Election 2020: Akufo-Addo orders security agencies to deal with troublemakers regardless of party affiliation

President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, has expressed his utmost faith in the country’s security apparatus to deal with miscreants who would arise during the 2020 general elections.

The president made the comment while speaking to some clergymen who paid a courtesy visit to him at the Jubilee House on the way forward and the nation’s preparedness toward the elections come December.

Akufo-Addo assured the clergymen that Ghana’s security agencies were up to the task and had been given the mandate to clamp down any cell or group of people who aim to mar the general elections.
He reiterated that as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana army, he was going to ensure that the 2020 elections were free, fair and peaceful.

“To ensure that the security agencies in our country act without partiality so that the law is applied evenhandedly, [that] is the reason why I passed a law against vigilantism to make sure that we can come to grips with it. And for the strictness, I have given them to the leadership of the security agencies,” Akufo-Addo noted.

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In driving home his point further, President Akufo-Addo indicated that he had given security agencies in Ghana to do their work come December 2020.

The president also urged the security agencies not be partial in carrying out their duties but deal with troublemakers regardless of the party colours or affiliation.

He noted, “Crime cannot have a political colorization. I think from now on, the political leaders must insist that the security agencies act with even-handedness. If an NPP man causes a problem or assaults someone in public, he must be dealt with as a citizen of Ghana not as a member of the NPP. It doesn’t matter that the NPP government is in power.”

This comes in the wake of many concerns that have been raised as far as security is concerned in the run-up to the 2020 general elections which would see Ghanaians going to the polls to elect a president and Members of Parliament for the next 4 years.

In line with this, former president John Dramani Mahama called on Akufo-Addo and his administration to ensure that the 2020 general elections are free, fair and without any form of violence.
In line with this, Akufo-Addo issued an order for all vigilante groups associated with political parties to be disbanded so as to ease tension in the country during elections.

He based his decision on the speed with which many of such groups were springing up and how they were quickly identifying themselves with some political parties in the country.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) however, bearing in mind the happenings of the 2019 bye-election in Ayawaso West Wuogon, which saw Member of Parliament for Ningo, Sam George being assaulted by unknown masked men, would be the loudest opposition party to kick against any form of violence before, during and after the 2020 general elections.