Some presidential candidates vying for the presidency in the 2020 General Election have called on the leadership of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to provide them with security detail as the December polls draw near.

This follows assurances by government to deploy 200 police personnel to guard Members of Parliament after the killing of the Mfantseman MP, Ekow Quansah Hayford, along with reports of attacks on some legislators by armed robbers during their campaigns.

The presidential candidates are of the view that their lives are also at risk and therefore require police protection.

Speaking to JoyNews, Presidential candidate for the All People’s Congress, Hassan Ayariga said his party has engaged the Inspector General of Police for the past 6 months, however, nothing has been done to give them the security they need.

This, he described, as unfair since his campaign convoy could be attacked at any given time and place.

“I was attacked twice in 2012, this is because we also carry money. So if I have a convoy of more than 50 people and I am going to pay their hotel bills and their every day [bills], I should have enough money to do that. So if anybody approaches us with weapons, definitely we are going to surrender and give out everything.

“And how sure are we that the people will spare our lives so you cannot say we should run these campaigns and not give us security to do that,” he said.

On his part, the running mate of the independent candidate, Jacob Osei Yeboah highlighted that the lack of security also makes it difficult for independent candidates to contest.

According to him, several applications to the GPS has yielded no results making it difficult for them to go into the hinterlands for their campaign activities.