The Minister for the Interior, Henry Quartey has interacted with Heads of Agencies under the Ministry in his office in Accra.
The meeting, held in Accra this week, was to share ideas, plan, and put measures in place to achieve the mandate of the Ministry which aims at ensuring internal security, and maintenance of law and order in the country.
Mr Henry Quartey, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ayawaso Central, until recently, was the Greater Accra Regional Minister. Since assuming office, he has been engaging key stakeholders to outline his plans for the Ministry.
He assured Government’s continuous commitment to ensure peace and security in the country.
The Agencies under the Ministry are Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prisons Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Immigration Service, National Disaster Management Organisation, Narcotics Control Commission, Gaming Commission of Ghana, Ghana National Commission on Small Arms, National Peace Council, Ghana Refugee Board and National Identification Authority.
Prior to this engagement, the Inspector-General of Police Dr. George Akuffo Dampare had stated that the security agencies would ensure that the 2024 elections is peaceful and incident-free.
According to the IGP, just as elections in the country have been peaceful since he assumed office, the 2024 polls will be no different.
Speaking at a meeting of the national election security task force at the Police headquarters, Dr. Akuffo Dampare also assured the chairperson of the Electoral Commission that everyone involved in the polls will be protected.
“We want to assure my sister (EC Chairperson) that we will continue to work with my colleagues here to ensure that just as elections in the country since I took over have been peaceful, the 2024 polls will be same”.
On his part, the Chief of Defense Staff Vice Admiral Seth Amoama said the Ghana Armed Forces will be on hand to provide background support to the Police and other security agencies who will provide security for the 2024 elections.
According to the CDS, even though the army will not play a frontal role in election security, they will be ready to assist the Police if they are called upon.
“We in the Armed Forces commit to our constitutionally mandated duty to protect this country and prevent any aggression from outside the country and also from within and we do so by air, by sea and by land, and even do at the peril of our lives”.
On the 2024 elections, the CDS noted “for the election proper we may not be in the upfront of election duties but we will be in the background to support you the Police Service and other security services. The Armed Forces is ready to act accordingly when we are called upon but for the election duties proper I will leave it to the security services to be in the forefront. We will always be in the background to act appropriately when we are called upon”.
The chairperson of the electoral commission Mrs. Jean Mensa who was at the stakeholder meeting expressed her gratitude to the security agencies for their support during elections.