The Inspector General of Police, as Chief Law Enforcement Officer, continues to receive national and international organisations to ascertain relevant information about the SLP’s preparedness to police the June 24, 2023, multi-tier elections.
It happened that on Monday May 22, 2023, the Inspector General of Police – Mr. William Fayia Sellu received in audience a delegation from the European Parliament, led by the EU Ambassador Manuel Muller and the EU Chief Observer Evin Incir.
The courtesy call came against the backdrop of seeking to know the organization’s readiness to provide a safe and secure environment for the June 24 elections.
The Chief Observer – Evin Incir reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to observing the conduct of the elections and sought to be briefed on the expected SLP’s role and responsibilities in the whole electioneering process.
The Inspector General reaffirm the SLP’s role, which he said, is to provide safety and security for the entire process. He furthered that the SLP has since been involved in the electioneering process such as the mid-term census, registration of voters, intra-party primaries and collection of voters Identify Cards. He referenced the campaign period which is to commence on Tuesday May 23 and expressed the organization’s determination to equally police same.
Mr. Sellu also noted that the SLP has been working with Electoral Management Bodies (EMB) to ensure that their decisions and resolutions are well-policed. He however called on political parties to ensure that they conduct their activities with due regard to the laws of the land.
Part of the preparedness, Mr. Sellu said, has been the training of personnel on electoral security and management, public order management, command and control, among others.
Another area the IGP dilated on was how the SLP has been collaborating with other security agencies and revealed plans to leverage on their support to police polling stations on election -day. Mr Sellu confirmed that there are going to be over 1100 polling stations of which the SLP will seek assistance from the Correctional Service, National Fire Force, Council Police, and Chiefdom Police to augment its strength to secure all polling stations.
Nationwide non-violence community and stakeholders’ engagements were also touted as part of the SLP’s preparedness.
So far this is the fifth election we are going to conduct, and our core function is to provide security for all actors; as there are bodies responsible to regulate the conduct of all political parties even as the campaigns commence soon and the Police will ensure that there is equal provision of security, in line with the requisite requirements for all and sundry, he noted.
Issues of hate speech, misinformation and disinformation, the IGP said, are being handled by the Cyber Unit and bring perpetrators to book.
In conclusion, the visiting team thanked the IGP for his comprehensive brief and pledged to make more contacts with his office, as and when necessary.
