Upper West EC boss wants prosecution for election-related crimes
The Upper West Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr Serebuor Quaicoe, has called for the prosecution of election-related crimes to sanitise Ghana’s elections.
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He has, consequently, appealed to the Ghana Police Service and other security agencies to arrest and help prosecute persons who violate the electoral system to guarantee free and fair electoral processes.
Mr Quaicoe said this in Wa when the Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kwasi Mensah Duku, inaugurated and activated the Upper West Regional Security Task Force for the 2016 general election.
The task force – chaired by the Regional Police Commander – comprises the Regional EC Director, the Regional Security Coordinator, the Regional Police Crime Officer and the regional heads of the military, the Ghana Prisons Service, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the Ghana Immigration Service, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
Mr Quaicoe said the failure to prosecute persons involved in various forms of election-related crimes had sent wrong signals over the years.
“It appears that in Ghana when it comes to elections, people can commit all kinds of crime and still go unpunished,” he said.
Prosecuting offenders
Over the years, only isolated cases of election-related crimes have been successfully prosecuted, with the large majority highlighted by the media always drowned in the aftermath of the elections.
“We should try as much as possible to prosecute offenders of our electoral process to inject confidence in the population with regard to attaining an electoral system free from intimidation, fraud and other electoral crimes,” he said.
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Security duty
DCOP Mensah Duku said as security men, it was their duty to provide adequate security before, during and after the elections and urged members to draw on past experiences in order to contribute to free, fair and peaceful elections.
The task force will be replicated at the district level, while seven subcommittees will be established to support the effort.