Presidential candidates get 60 Police guards

The Ghana Police service has allocated 60 of its officers as guards to presidential candidates and their running mates for the upcoming November polls.

The Inspector General of Police, Dr. John Kudalor, who disclosed this in Ho noted, the officers have been given the requisite training in order to give maximum protection to candidates.

The IGP added that, for the purposes of trust, the candidates and their parties were given the chance to select their preferred officers of the service for the guard duties, a request some of them responded to, with others leaving their choices to the discretion of the Police hierarchy.

According to him "providing protection for this kind of personalities entails a great deal of trust, so we met the candidates and asked them to choose any of our men that they want to guard them, some of them presented a list of their preferred officers but others left that decision to us."

Mr. Kudalor who was speaking during a courtesy call on the Volta regional minister, Helen Ntoso in Ho on Wednesday as part of his 3-day working visit to the region, also said the Police service has made provision for female presidential candidates who may require the services of female guards.

The Police Service recently published guidelines regarding the deployment and use of the police guards by the candidates during the electioneering period.

The service intends to deploy four guards to each presidential candidate and two each for their running mates.

General Security on Election day

Touching on the readiness of the service towards the elections, the Police Chief noted that adequate arrangements have been made by his outfit with support from other sister security agencies to mobilize enough personnel to police the elections nationwide.

The IGP also hinted of the enlistment of 3000 new personnel through the ongoing police recruitment exercise to augment the existing personnel strength of 26,000, while optimum equipment and logistics have been made available to ensure adequate security during the electioneering period.

The Volta regional minister, Helen Ntoso told the IGP and his entourage that, the Regional Security Council has managed to minimize tensions in the key conflict flashpoints in the region and will collaborate with the service to ensure a peaceful elections.

Mr. Kudalor and his entourage also paid a similar call on the chiefs and elders of Ho as well as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the E.P church.

Source: Starrfmonline.com