Government has indicated that although it is facing financial challenges, the country’s security is not at risk.
It has therefore denied assertions that the nation’s security institutions are failing to carry out their mandate due to government huge indebtedness.
“I will state categorically that the security management of this country is not collapsing; far from that,” said the Deputy Interior Minister, James Agalga on Eyewitness News.
The Member of Parliament for Nkoranza North and Deputy Ranking Member for Defence and Interior Committee, Major Rtd Derrick Oduro on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday alleged that government’s failure to settle its huge debts is a threat to the security of the state.
[contextly_sidebar id=”8dxaN2pbMnogRRR9uZ9JOJEXWPRxyEKF”]He further claimed operational vehicles of the security services have been parked because there are no funds to undertake maintenance and purchase fuel.
The Deputy Interior Minister discounted the claims, explaining that governments are bound to face challenges therefore, it is uncalled for “to exaggerate the challenges that government is faced with at the moment.”
He admitted that at some point, the Interior Ministry was experiencing difficulty in honouring its contractual obligation to fuel suppliers “but that did not result in a situation where the suppliers refused to supply the security agencies with the supplies that were most needed to keep our vehicles running.”
He mentioned that GOIL is a major petroleum supplier and as and when it becomes necessary, the Interior Ministry makes interventions to ensure the continuous supply of fuel to the Ghana Police Service.
“And so it is not true that vehicles have been grounded because they haven’t been supplied with fuel,” he stressed.
Mr. Aglaga further argued that the visibility patrol unit of the Ghana Police Service are still undertaking their duties despite the challenges.
“You continue to see that the Police are very visible – how do you think they are able to sustain the visibility concept that we have introduced if their vehicles were grounded?” he asked.
He therefore cautioned that MPs to be circumspect “with some of these statements we make” because it creates a false impression that “the Police cannot do their work”.
“Yes, we are challenged but we’ve not gotten to the point where we can’t provide the agencies with fuel to carry on with their day to day activities,” he added.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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