There was anger among some political party representatives during an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held on Thursday following the presence of armed police personnel brought in by the Electoral Commission.
The party representatives say they went through vigorous searches before they were allowed into the conference room for the meeting.
The National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Monah, said, he was particularly shaken by the move.
“This is the first time I have come across this and I raised it at the IPAC meeting,” he told Citi News.
The PNC chairman also questioned the presence of police in the IPAC meeting itself, fearing it could start a bad precedent.
“If IPAC is meant for political representation and you have a police officer who is not a member of IPAC then it means that those of us who also have personal guards for our security should also come into the meeting with our guards.”
“Any time I was talking, the policeman was looking at me with some queerness and I felt so intimidated that I had to tell the meeting that I was not comfortable,” he added.
Commenting on the security developments, the EC said the move was merely in response to security concerns that had been raised.
Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, the Deputy Chair of the EC in charge of Corporate Services, said: “the commission has witnessed several security breaches and we have security agencies advising us that we need to beef up the security at our premises.”
He added that the commission will comment on the reasons for the security changes in due time.
“Matters of security are not for the consumption of the general public. It is usually for a select group of people.”
