NO 'MACHOISM' ON DECEMBER 7 (OCT. 23, 2008)

THE Police Administration has stated categorically that it will not permit the use of “machomen” as polling assistants during the December 7 elections.
The acting Director of Public Relations of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kwesi Ofori, gave the warning when he addressed a forum organised by the Ghana First Forum, in collaboration with the ECOWAS Secretariat, on the topic, “Peaceful Elections 2008”, in Accra yesterday.
The DAILY GRAPHIC shares the sentiments of the Police Administration and we urge all the political parties and their supporters to comply to ensure that the electorate exercise their franchise in a conducive atmosphere.
Fact is that since our return to constitutional rule in 1992, one common feature that has dented an otherwise successful electoral process has been the vandalisation of polling centres and the trading of gunshots which have, sometimes, culminated in the hijacking of ballot boxes.
And at the centre of these disturbances have been well-built men hired by various political parties to perform one duty or another during the polls.
This time around, there seems to be an upsurge in pre-election violence. The recent limited registration exercise, for instance, was not spared the hostilities, particularly in northern Ghana, and experts fear this will continue in the months leading to the December presidential and parliamentary elections if security is not tightened.
Ghana has made some giant strides in its democratic credentials from the 1992 elections to date and we can only improve upon that achievement. From non-transparent ballot boxes in 1992, we moved on to transparent boxes. Voter ID cards with photographs for urban voters and without photographs for voters in rural areas were issued by 1996.
We did not stop there. In our desire to correct further lapses, by 2000 all eligible voters — both urban and rural — had been issued with voter ID cards with pictures. All these were in direct response to complaints of impersonation, pre-stuffing of ballot boxes and the lack of transparency in the voting process.
These changes have, no doubt, reactivated the confidence of the people in elections, given credibility to the process and made our dear nation a showpiece not only in the West African sub-region but also the world at large.
It is, therefore, not surprising that the eyes of the world are keenly focused on us as we approach this year’s landmark elections to decide whom the sitting President hands over power peacefully to after serving the maximum constitutionally mandated eight-year term. While we prepare to consolidate our democratic governance, we cannot allow the dastardly acts of “machomen” to bring our elections into disrepute and halt our advancement.
In addition to the efforts to nip in the bud the menace caused by “machomen”, the leadership of the security agencies must ensure that they work out a special strategy to deal with any violence at the flash points in the country and score full marks on December 7.
If Ghana burns because of politics, we have nowhere else to go, so it is in our interest to do everything possible to preserve the peace we are known for in the sub-region.
Everybody has a part to play in the peace process. The importance of the elections can never be a justification to destabilise the country.