The Director of Operations of the National Security Council, Col.
Michael Opoku has said that the masked men who were at polling stations
during the Ayawaso by-election were deployed on a confidence-building
operation.
He said the presence of the personnel was to assure the constituents
that they were ready to foil plans of any vigilante group intending to
disturb the elections.
“The purpose was to provide the necessary surveillance for me. Most of
those who were doing surveillance were in normal civil attire. The
essence of that [confidence] patrol was to let the people within the
constituency know that the security forces were ready to ensure that no
vigilante group as they are known to be, could disturb the election on
that day. So we were rather giving confidence to the populace to ensure
that they come out and do what they are supposed to do,” Col. Opoku
said.
The presence of the masked men, part of a national security team that
was deployed to the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency has become a
subject of controversy following acts of violence and physical assault
they meted out to some citizens close to the house of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate.
Many civil society organizations and political actors have condemned the
presence of the masked men, some attributing it to the meagre voter
turnout with claims that their presence scared residents.
But Col. Michael Opoku, who deployed the personnel, believes the presence of the men scared voters.
He further indicated that the personnel were masked to protect their
identities since they lived within the constituency within which they
were deployed to carry out the operation.
While corroborating the testimony of the SWAT Commander of National
Security, DSP Samuel Azugu who said that the personnel sometimes wear
the masks to prevent mosquito bites, Col Opoku said the purpose of the
masks for the Ayawaso by-election was not to prevent mosquito bites.
Instead, they were to protect the identity of the team who live in the community.
Masked men were deployed to boost voter confidence – NSC’s Operations Director
