Security personnel deployed for the 2024 elections must be held accountable for anything that goes wrong at their posts, the African Electoral Institute has proposed.

In line with that, the Institute has proposed that there be strict adherence to the prescribed dress code for the security personnel who would be on duty during the polls.  

In a statement dated 17 November 2024, AEI notified the security authorities and the Electoral Commission to prevent a recurrence of situations where, in the past, some security officers deployed for election duties were “dressed in ways that made it difficult to identify them with any of the regular security services such as the Police Service, Immigration Service, Prisons Service, Customs, Fire Service, or the Ghana Armed Forces—services we are all familiar with in terms of their uniforms.”

The Institute said it takes this issue “seriously, as no election can be successfully conducted without the input or participation of the security services.”

“Therefore, we call for strict adherence to the prescribed dress code for easy identification and to facilitate early detection and whistleblowing to identify and remove unscrupulous individuals or groups seeking to undermine national stability,” it insisted, adding: “This is also to hold individual officers accountable if anything goes wrong under their watch or supervision.”

Additionally, the Institute suggested the following measures for adoption and implementation: “a. all security officers must be inspected by their commanders to ensure they are properly dressed before deployment; b. Deployed security officers must wear their name tags and other paraphernalia clearly indicating the service they belong to; c. Security officers deployed must not be allowed to cover their faces with masks or goggles unless prescribed as part of the dress code for the day (excluding medicated glasses); and d. The details of each security officer deployed to any polling station must be made available to the presiding officer. These details should include: service number, rank, full name, unit/detachment/station.)

The other suggestions include: “All deployed security officers must be given accreditation cards by the Electoral Commission (if possible) to wear around their necks” as “This will help identify imposters or unauthorised persons at polling stations and ensure their removal or arrest if necessary.”

Finally, the Institute proposed that security officers must be made aware that the security of the polling station where they are deployed lies in their hands. “They should be held accountable and sanctioned if anything goes wrong under their watch.”

The Institute also urged the Electoral Commission and political parties to discuss these suggestions at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee level, noting: “A clear decision should be reached on the security architecture for election day, in collaboration with Security Authorities, to achieve consensus.”

The Institute called on all political parties and Ghanaians to take a keen interest in the December 2024 elections and to lend their support to the Electoral Commission and Security Agencies to ensure a successful election.

It said the “outcome should be a true representation of the will of the Ghanaian people.”