Security expert, Dr. Kwesi Aning, has sounded warning bells that Kasoa in the Central Region has become a crime hotspot which requires urgent security intervention.
According to him, 50 other areas are likely to become havens of crime in the next four years if the country’s security agencies do not take urgent steps to arrest the situation.
[contextly_sidebar id=”ryB7mrcHU3UTC4zSVHsqlCmzJ3v6d4W4″]Armed robbery and the phenomenon of land guards terrorizing residents have worsened in various areas on the outskirts of Accra, with Kasoa in the Central recording more cases.
Dr. Aning said Ghana’s ballooning population and unplanned urban growth are a recipe for disaster in the area of security.
“In 4 years time, there will be 50 Kasoas in this country. We don’t want to think about the demographics. In 2063, we will be 70 million in this country. It will lead to massive urbanization, unplanned urban spaces, and it will have an impact on law enforcement. We ought to have at least 60,000 police officers now, but we now have 33,000. We don’t have enough,” he said.
“Kasoa is representative of the demographic plus urban challenge that this country is going to face. It is a transient town, nobody knows anyone, and therefore the murders that we are seeing will escalate by 31st December this year….Kasoa represents small arms, narcotics, poor policing and unplanned urbanization.”
Speaking at the third in a series of Accra Dialogue on “The Scars of Vigilantism: a legal or political question?” at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration Law Faculty on Wednesday, Dr. Aning also accused the Inspector General of Police and the police hierarchy of failing in their mandate to deal decisively with the menace of land guards even though his outfit has offered to support it.
The event was organized by the Institute of Law and Public Affairs in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
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By: Jonas Nyabor & Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana