Regional election task force commissioned

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Sarpong, has commissioned the regional election task force with a call on the members to ensure free and fair district level elections in the region.

The task force is to ensure that the election process runs smoothly. 

It is made up of members drawn from all the security agencies and election-related organisations, namely the police, the Ghana National Fire Service, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Prison Service, Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Immigration Service, the Bureau of National Investigation, the Electoral Commission and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), and has the Ashanti Regional Police Commander as its chairman.

At a short ceremony to commission the task force on Thursday, Mr Sarpong urged the members to show no sympathy to anyone who would try to circumvent the process and to ensure that the elections were conducted on a level playing field.

He asked them to conduct their affairs without fear or favour.

According to him, since the local assembly elections held the prospects for the development of the various assemblies, the right people should be elected to represent the interest of their communities at the assemblies.

As such, he said, care must be taken to ensure that the elections were held in a free and fair atmosphere and devoid of intimidation.

The chairman of the task force, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Nathan Kofi Boakye, assured the regional minister that the task force would ensure that it delivered on its mandate during and after the elections.

He said the Ashanti Region alone had a total of 4,628 polling centres and 1,028 collation centres.

He urged sister security services to contribute personnel to man all those centres on the day of the election.

That, he said, would ensure that “nobody interferes with the election process” so the process would be free and fair.