Reports of hired assassins in town - POLICE TO STEP IN* IGP assures

Front Page: Daily Graphic, December 18, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Patrick Acheampong, has requested all those who claim to have information about the presence of some hired assassins in the country to share that information with the security services so that the matter can be thoroughly investigated.
Reacting to rumours of the presence of some hired men who are to cause mayhem by eliminating some prominent citizens in the country, Mr Acheampong said the security services were firmly on the ground to prevent that from happening before, during or after the December 28 presidential run-off.
Speaking to those concerns to the Daily Graphic yesterday, Mr Acheampong, who is also the Chairman of the National Elections Security Task Force, cautioned political parties and their supporters not to attempt to create conditions that would disrupt public order.
“The security services have confidence in the two contesting political parties and their leadership and believe that they will advise their supporters and sympathisers not to engage in any lawlessness,” he stated.
Touching on the meeting between the task force and the two political parties on Tuesday, Mr Acheampong said the meeting agreed that returning officers should involve party agents in the movement of ballot boxes from polling stations to collation centres to avoid disputes.
He said the meeting also stressed the need for presiding officers to exhibit a high sense of professionalism and fairness in the discharge of their duties.
He said all party agents were to be tagged for identification purposes in the run-off.
Mr Acheampong said security personnel manning the polling stations had been asked to be more vigilant to deal with allegations of polling assistants giving out two or three ballot papers to some voters.
He said the meeting agreed that any polling assistant or returning officer found to be indulging in such activities would be arrested.
The IGP said security personnel were also to critically monitor the separation of ballot papers after voting, as there had been allegations that some of the polling assistants deliberately marked the ballot papers thumbprinted for candidates they did not support with hair dye, popularly known as “yomo”, resulting in the rejection of those ballots.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has urged the government to set up an independent enquiry to ascertain the truth and also find those behind the allegations that some hit men were in town to assassinate some prominent Ghanaians, reports Donald Ato Dapatem.
He said those found to be behind the allegations should be brought to book.
“I pray and know that God Almighty who knows our hearts and minds will not allow people who kill others to go scot-free, especially assassinating His servant who wins souls for Him,” he said.
Prof Mills made the call at various places in the Central Region, including Swedru, Gomoa Dawurampon and Winneba, where he had gone to thank the people for voting for him and also urge them to vote massively for him again in the run-off on December 28.