Britain to train Ghana police

Britain has provided funding for the training of 16,000 police officers in Ghana ahead of the country's upcoming parliamentary elections on 28 December.

The two-week election security training programme is funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and is designed to familiarise police with public order management to ensure stability during election time.

Police will be trained in security and laws relating to elections, as well as the prevention of election-related violence. As part of the programme, 11 communication stations would be established across Ghana to assist the police's communication network and to facilitate intelligence gathering.

The training programme began in mid-May at the police headquarters in Accra and is the first in a series of courses for officers from Ghana's various security services. A similar programme is expected to be held in the central Ashanti Region in June.

Ghanaian judges and magistrates held a one-day seminar in Accra on 7 May to discuss effective ways of ruling in cases involving election violence and other election-related issues. The seminar was also funded by the DFID.

Previous elections in Ghana have been marred by violence.