2016 Election: ´Police need crowd management techniques

The Director of Amnesty International, Ghana, Mr. Lawrence Amesu has said the police need to be trained on how to contain crowd ahead of the November polls.

He said the absence of techniques in crowd management by the Police Service is responsible for the recent mob killings in the country.

Amnesty thinks crowd and mob management would be important this year, thus urges “The police and the security agencies to continue to exhibit professionalism to avoid any bloodshed during the election.”

Addressing a news conference at the launch of Amnesty International’s World Human Report for 2015/2016, Amesu advised Ghanaians to “continue to cherish and maintain peace” especially in an election year.

Ghana’s human rights status which is captured on pages 166 and 167 reads, “Excessive use of force by Police was reported in the context of demonstrations and mass evictions. Torture and other ill-treatment continued to be reported and prison conditions remained a concern”.

Also, it recorded “violence against women remained widespread” and expressed the “banishment for witchcraft” as worrying.”

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people faced discrimination and were targeted for attack”, it continued.

Commenting on the nature of the world human rights report, Amesu said though human rights report from the 160 countries under review seemed “bleak”, however, “there were some successes recorded during the year.”

He said one particular success story is Shell Nigeria’s £55 million ($84m) settlement to 15,600 farmers and fishermen in Bodo in Nigeria who suffered because of shell’s oil spillage.

Also, Mr. Musa said within three months of 2015 the countries of Madagascar, Fiji, and the South American state of Surinam abolished the practice of death sentence.