Participants
African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) has organized a training workshop for about sixty senior police personnel at the Police Academy in Accra.
The officers selected across the country will be taken through the electoral laws and the ethics they need to adhere to on the day of the elections.
Executive director of AWLA Edna Kuma, told the media that the workshop was a trainer of trainers (TOT) program for the police administration and that participants after completion are supposed to train other personnel who will be deployed on the election day.
Participants selected for this program will be equipped to sensitize the larger majority of the police personnel in their regions and districts.
“It is expected that officers who go through this training will come out fully enlightened on the laws that govern the electoral processes.”
Participants, she said will be taken through the Constitutional Instrument (CI) 75 and (CI) 95.
They will also be taken through the criminal side of it so that they can apply it at all times.
Edna Kuma indicated that the participants will be introduced to format checklist to assist them to record the trainings that they will conduct at their various welfare meetings.
Ms Edna Kuma, executive director of African Woman Lawyers Association addressing participants
This, she said, will be a very easy exercise to enable down- streaming of what will be learnt by the personnel.
She said the training will enhance the election policing and reduce any form of election brutalities that might be meted out to voters by the security personnel.
During election years, the electoral commission of Ghana engages the services of the security agencies to secure and protect the electoral process.
This year, according to AWLA, the service of 29,000 security personnel from the Ghana Police Service and other security agencies including Customs Excise and Preventive Service(CEPS), Ghana Fire Service, Prisons Service, and the military will be engaged to help man and safeguard the polls.
The AWLA representative said, the same training will be organized for the military, fire service and prisons personnel who will also be deployed on the election day.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey