IGP Christian Tetteh Yohuno
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, yesterday assured the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the police are ready for the upcoming internal election of the party scheduled for January 31, 2026, and would ensure an incident-free process.
He gave the assurance when he took his turn to address a gathering of the party leadership and supporters at Alisa Hotel during the signing of a peace pact by the five contenders in the January 31, 2026 presidential primary across the country.
Following fears about the possibility of so-called machomen or thugs being engaged by some contenders, he warned such persons that the police will descend upon them if they dare to disrupt the process.
“We have identified all the polling centres across the country and can assure the party that the regional commanders have told me that they are ready for the operation on January 31, 2026,” IGP Yohuno disclosed.
In the case of Bawku, he said that the Ministry of Defence has been contacted to deploy soldiers for the polls. The military will be on standby, he added.
The police, he went on, would have not less than 70 officers in each polling centre, and there will be heavy security presence.
All senior officers will be deployed on that day to the inner and outer segments of the centres. He explained that the outer deployment will especially be heavy. Such places are prone to acts of lawlessness by thugs, he explained.
“My regional commanders have told me that they are ready for the operation even today,” he said.
“We would not entertain private security persons at the polling centres. We have trained and rehearsed a lot for the election day and are ready to ensure incident-free polls,” he stressed.
The IGP said some party leaders have sent him voice recordings which suggest that some persons seek to engage machomen on the day of the elections.
“Nobody should call me when these machomen are arrested for breaching the law on that day,” he told the party leadership.
“We are more macho in the police than the machomen,” the IGP advised those who intend to create chaos during the process.
While expressing gratitude to the NPP leadership for the confidence reposed in the police, he called on all stakeholders to support the process so that at the end of it all, peace will prevail.
The IGP and the Police Management Board (POMAB) membership sat throughout the process. They could not have showed their commitment more.