By James Amoh Junior
Accra, June 8, GNA – Selected security personnel in Ghana have completed an intensive course aimed at mitigating electoral violence and promoting peace and security before, during and after the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
The security personnel, drawn from the Police, Military, Customs, Prisons, Immigration and Fire Service, underwent the two-week comprehensive course on Electoral Violence and Security (EVS).
The course, organised by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), in collaboration with the German Foreign Ministry, forms part of efforts to safeguard the electoral process and to ensure peace and security.
The EVS course is designed to address electoral violence in West Africa by equipping law enforcement agencies with effective prevention, management, and response strategies.
It aims to enhance the capacity of government security services across West Africa to safeguard electoral processes and ensure free, fair, and peaceful elections.
The course is part of a broader strategy to reinforce democratic processes and stability in Ghana and the West African sub-region.
Air Commodore David Akrong, Deputy Commandant, KAIPTC, applauded the participants for exhibiting great sense of devotion, intelligence and full participation in the course, sharing experiences on various modules.
“In all these spheres of learning, it is satisfying to know that you were all exemplary in your contributions to the discourse which is intended to make our democracy even stronger,” he said.
He urged the personnel to harness and draw the knowledge gained to effectively enhance their capacities to prevent or manage potential or perceived electoral violence situations before, during and after their Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Air Cdre Akrong said the course was timely to equip Ghanaian security personnel to ensure the smooth and peaceful conduct of elections while upholding democratic values critical for the nation’s development and stability.
Ms Sivine Jansen, Deputy German Ambassador to Ghana, said the German Government subscribed to free and fair elections as the cornerstone of democracy.
She said as part of efforts to ensuring that elections were conducted in a peaceful and secure environment, Germany supported the Election Violence and Security Course.
The Deputy Ambassador said apart from supporting the security services, journalists were being trained to ensure that they reported elections objectively and fairly in accordance with high moral and ethical standards devoid of sensationalism.
She said vigilance by security services was key in ensuring that the violenct incidents during the registration was curtailed as the general elections beckoned.
According to her, a holistic approach with an understanding of a law oriented and thoughtful process was needed in ensuring that there was a safe environment for all the citizenry to vote in free and fair elections.
Ms Jansen said the German Government, since 2002, had supported and partnered the KAIPTC to contribute to peace and security in Ghana and the West African sub-region.
She noted that with funding from Germany, the KAIPTC had developed courses on Investigating Sexual and Gender-based Violence, Police Middle Management Course, and Women’s Leadership Development Programme, among others for security personnel from Ghana and other West African States.
ACP Osman Abdul-Razak, the Course Director, said modules for the course was strategically developed to prepare the security agencies to know how to manage and deal with perceived and actual security related violence.
ACP Abdul-Razak said the course was all-encompassing, dealing with how to handle the media, the public and political parties among others during elections.
“It also gave Commanders who came for the course the opportunity to know the various practical measures that can be put in place to deal with all incidents on a case to case basis. Participants were sensitised on how to work as a team,” he noted.
With support from the German Government, KAIPTC will replicate the course in the middle and northern sectors of Ghana.
In Kumasi the course is scheduled to run from 10th June, 2024 and in Tamale from 17 to 21 June, 2024.
GNA