Close All Apio Bars On December 7

Dr Afari Gyan-EC Boss

WILLSON NII Adjetey, a 78-year-old field officer at the Accra Regional GPRTU Head Office has appealed to the Electoral Commission and the Ghana Police Service to ensure the closure of all drinking bars on December 7.

The move, he said in an interview with DAILY GUIDE , would ensure that voters stayed clear from alcoholic beverages.  

Asked why he suggested so, Nii Adjetey said alcohol was a recipe for disaster. Some voters abused the substance with the intention of causing commotion at polling centres.

He therefore appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Paul Tawiah Quaye to use his discretionary powers to prevail upon drinking bar operators not to open to the public on December 7, until polls had ended.

Further, he suggested that polling vans should be on hand to immediately transport ballot boxes to the EC Headquarters soon after the counting process ended.

Nii Adjetey said certain miscreants used the delay in transporting the ballot boxes to snatch them.

The Director Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur said there was no law debarring drinking bar operators from opening to the public on December 7.

However, alcohol was not supposed to be sold within a 50metre-radius of a polling station.

He argued that though not selling alcoholic beverages may limit incidents on the day of the polls, that decision may not be enough to curtail violence.

He said some people may store their alcoholic beverages in anticipation of December 7 and that the surest way to violence-free polls was for Ghanaians to make the conscientious effort not to stir trouble at the various polling centres and resort to laid down processes to solve issues that may arise.

BY  Rocklyn Antonio