Flag-bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has condemned the decision by the Ghana Police Service to boycott the commemoration of the Ayawaso West Wuogon (AWW) by-election violence.
According to the Former President, the Service’s refusal to provide security for patrons of the one year anniversary is sad and worrying.
Mr Mahama, speaking at the event on Friday at La Bawaleshie in Accra, said he was saddened by a statement issued by the Service warning officers to disassociate themselves from the event.
“I read the statement this morning and I felt sad. Our police officers must remember that their dedication to duty is to the State and they need to remain neutral and non-partisan,” he said.
To him, the decision by the police to boycott the commemoration shows the extent of bastardisation of State institutions.
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Veteran journalist, Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor-in-Chief of the Insight Newspaper, added that “this is the first time in my life and perhaps the first time in recorded history that a police institution is calling on policemen not to provide security.
“Now if the police are not providing security, what is the police there for?” he quizzed.
The Greater Accra Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service in a statement cautioned officers to stay off the NDC’s durbar scheduled to mark the first anniversary of the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.
The statement said:“Indeed all police officers within the region must dissociate themselves from the event.”
It was unclear why the police took such a decision.