The Ghana Police Service has revealed it has identified over 5000 hot spots in the forthcoming elections which must be managed to avoid violence.
Speaking at forum on peaceful elections organised by the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Center, the Director-General of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Prosper Kwami Agblorh, highlighted a number of triggers that could ignite tensions.
[contextly_sidebar id=”itWzEaplPuPLNAdqfwrVEXdZ953H3ZFK”]“The proliferation of illicit arms in the country, the existence of numerous land and chieftaincy disputes, the prevalence of terrorist activities in some neighboring countries of our regions all serve as triggers for violence and therefore pose real threats to the 2016 general elections,” he outlined.
The CID Director-General was speaking on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor, and he explained that “it is against this background that the National Election Security architecture was activated on January 20, 2016 to plan for the 2016 general elections.”
He noted further that “the overall objective of the task force is to provide a forum for security agencies to impartially deal with election security related issues in a coordinated manner.”
Alert from Electoral Commission
The Electoral Commission (EC) Chair, Madam Charlotte Osei, has also warned that the 2016 election could be the most fiercely contested and may lead to violence if not well managed.
Mrs. Osei also warned against complacency stemming from the conduct of six prior peaceful elections; two of which involved a change in power.
According to her, the proliferation of illegal small arms and the rising levels of drug abuse and joblessness among the youth is creating a fertile room for violence in this year’s elections.
She cited reports conducted by the Small Arms Commission in 2014 noting that over 3.2 million weapons are in Ghana and out of this number 1.1 million are illegal.
“Again, statistics from the narcotic control board indicates a steadily high growing drug and alcohol abuse in Ghana. The most affected demographically is our youth population. Now we know that when we talk about conflict in election, the youth are most likely to be used,” The EC Chair added.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana