The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George has commended the Ghana Police Service for professionally handling security in the just-ended Assin North By-Elections.
The MP revealed that he drew the attention of the police to the presence of heavy-built men [machomen] in one of the polling stations during the Assin North by-election. He saw about 30 macho men in a convoy of five vehicles headed to Ningo-Gangan polling station but were sacked after he drew the attention of the police commander to their presence.
He commended the police for the swift intervention.
“This afternoon around 3 pm, myself and Edward Omane Boamah were in charge to supervise the Ningo-Gangan area, which includes 8 polling stations. We were doing our routine rounds, and we met a team of machomen, almost 30 of them, in a convoy of about 5 cars, allegedly led by Ernest Owusu Bempah. They passed by us, we passed by them quietly. They were headed to the Ningo-Gangan polling station, and so we called security ahead to alert them of their movement there. We want to say a very big thank you to the police. The police commander there and his men stood their grounds and sacked them from the polling station,” Sam George narrated.
According to the legislator, he and former Minister of Communications, Dr. Omane Boamah, bumped into another set of soldiers who told them there were visiting their friend.
The legislator further said he again saw some soldiers and offered them a piece of advice.
“Barely after we met the five convoys, we ran into another convoy of six vehicles also going to Ningo-Gangan. I stopped at the third vehicle, which had police officers and I ask them what was happening, and they said they were just observing. Then I noticed the last vehicle, a Nissan hardbody pickup had soldiers. So I drove to that pick-up and stopped them, we exchanged pleasantries”.
“I asked them what they were doing there as election security was solely the preserve of the police and not soldiers. Six of them were all fully armed. They said they had come to visit a friend. I asked them what the six of them were doing in the bush on a day of a by-election. They burst into laughter, one said they were escorting somebody. I asked them if they were escorting the Attorney General or the Minister for Defence. We urged them to be law-abiding, and we left”.
