Ayawaso West by-election: 'Masked men' were there to build confidence – National Security Commander

The Commander in charge of the National Security SWAT team, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Samuel Kojo Azugu says personnel from the National Security were at the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election only to build confidence and that they had nothing to do with the elections.

Explaining what the "confidence building" meant, DSP Azugu said the confidence building meant that the national Security operatives would drive their vehicles through the streets of where the elections were being held.

DSP Azugu said this when he took his turn at the public hearing of the Justice Emile Short Commission of Inquiry in Accra on Monday.

He further explained that the group that were dispatched for the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election was the civilian component of the National Security for which reason they wore black T-shirts during operations.

According to him, the civilian operatives of the National Security was only used for intelligence gathering purposes and as such were not made to carry weapons.

He noted, however, that he was unsure if the civilian operatives were trained to handle weapons or not; neither was he sure if they had been trained in crowd control.

DSP Azugu further noted that the masks were to help protect the identity of operatives due to the nature of their job as informants.

He noted, however, that prior to moving to the election grounds, the operatives were not in mask and that he was yet to ascertain the purpose for which they wore mask upon arriving at the election grounds.