The Contribution Of The Ghana Police Service To The Promotion Of Peaceful Elections In Ghana: A Case Of The Fourth Republic.

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Date

2021-12

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University Of Ghana

Abstract

Ghana has gained both local and international recognition for conducting peaceful, credible, free, and fair elections in West Africa. The Ghana Police Service has been a core stakeholder in the conduct of credible, free, fair, and peaceful elections in Ghana. The current study examined the contribution of the Ghana Police Service to peaceful elections within the Fourth Republic of Ghana. The study also examined the challenges facing the Ghana Police Service in contributing to peaceful Ghanaian elections and recommends solutions to such existing challenges. The mixed research approach and descriptive research design were adopted for the study. The study also made use of the key informant sampling and simple random sampling techniques to sample respondents for the study. The primary data was collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews while secondary data was obtained from existing reports, journals, and books on the subject matter. The data were analyzed with the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel into frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. The findings of the study indicated that the contributions of the Ghana Police Service to the promotion of peaceful Ghanaian elections within the Fourth Republic were through maintaining public order, protecting electoral materials and officers, and protection of lives and physical structures associated with the conduct of elections. The study also revealed that the challenges facing the Ghana Police Service in contributing to peaceful Ghanaian elections within the Fourth Republic include: political intimidations and influence, shortages of logistics and personnel, limited funds and logistics for security operations. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations for restructuring the recruitment process of the Ghana Police Service, a constitutional amendment to allow for the appointment of the Inspector General of Police by an Independent body, and early release of funds for electoral security operations by the government among others were made.

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MPhil. Political Science

Keywords

Ghana Police Service, Fourth Republic, Peaceful Elections

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