Soldiers must stay off election – Security analyst backs Speaker’s call
Security analyst, Adib Saani has backed the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin call on the government to exclude the military from supervising the upcoming elections.
The Speaker is advocating that soldiers should be invited to assist the police in the process only when very necessary.
“We don’t want to see the military during elections. When there is the need to call them, they will be called. But they should not be at polling or voting centres,” he said
The Speaker said this on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, when the House reconvened after a break.
In his opening address to the House, Mr. Bagbin expressed concern over the pockets of violence experienced in the just-ended voter registration exercise.
“The signs and signals of happening in the country are not that of assurance and hope. I shudder when I am told that [people going to write their names carry knives, guns, just to go and write names. What about when we are going to vote? And at the end of it all the results are announced and somebody else has carried the day and not the other. I shudder to picture what can happen.”
Commenting further on the Speaker’s call in an interview on New York-based Adinkra Radio Morning Show, Adib Saani said the presence of soldiers at polling centres sometimes scare even some law-abiding citizens from going to cast their ballot.
“I have already said this as far back as the 2016 election. Soldiers have a very important role to play in our election regime. However, I support Speaker’s call for the military not to play any security role in our elections.
“Soldiers are sometimes objects of intimidation. The weapons they hold during election put a lot of fear in some people and that scares people from going to the polling centres to vote. The presence of soldiers at polling station creates some level of tension because they are normally scene at places where the situation is steaky. The soldiers can play a role on the sidelines, in case the police are overwhelmed, then they can call on the soldiers as backup mechanism,” Adib Saani told show Host Daakyehene Ofosu Agyemang.
Source: Adinkraradio.com
