Police must remain neutral — TEIN (Political page) August 14, 2008

Story: Michael Donkor

THE Greater Accra Regional branch of the Tertiary Education Institution (TEIN) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on the police to remain neutral and exhibit a high sense of professionalism in the discharge of their duties during the December elections.
The President of the Greater Accra branch of TEIN of the NDC, Mr Fred Agbenyo, who made the call at a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, reminded the police of the oath they took to defend the country and added that Ghana was bigger than any political party.
He said information reaching them indicated that some police personnel had shirked their responsibility to ensure law and order and were aiding the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to disenfranchise some Ghanaians.
Mr Agbenyo also questioned the credibility and procedure for selecting registration officers by the Electoral Commission and said most of them were NPP faithful.
He said for instance at Legon, the second vice president of TESCON, one Mr Gyasi, was the registration officer there.
He said this undermined the credibility and political neutrality of the Electoral Commission
He said there had not been any reported case of shortage in the Ashanti Region but there had been widespread shortage in the Volta and the northern regions.
Mr Agbenyo said the EC claimed they were adequately resourced and lacked nothing and questioned why they could provide only 2,500 workstations, out of which Greater Accra, which was the most-densely populated, was given only 79.
He said despite Greater Accra having the highest population, the EC initially gave the region 166,000 registration forms whilst, Ashanti was given 164,000 forms.