The facility was commissioned today [Sunday], March 18, 2018, by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The Bekwai Divisional Police Headquarters is the second building constructed for the Police in Bekwai, and will serve the people of Amansie West, Amansie Central, Bekwai, Bosome Freho and Fomena.

President Akufo-Addo lauded Osei-Owusu, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bekwai for the project describing the initiative as “an excellent example of the contribution that a responsible citizen can make to the general welfare of the community.”

On security, President Akufo-Addo said government will give the police the necessary assistance to enable them  protect the lives of Ghanaians and property.

He added that government will soon deploy about 8,700 CCTV cameras nationwide.

“In addition to recruiting some 4,000 more police officers this year, negotiations have just been completed for the roll-out of the Phase II of the Alpha Project, which involves the deployment of a total of 8,700 CCTV cameras across all the districts, with three command centres in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale.”

Outlining Government’s plans to further equip the Police better, the President stated that “at least 1,000 new vehicles are being procured for the Police this year. Already 200 pick-up vehicles have been allocated under Operation Calm Life, with 200 saloon vehicles to be delivered soon, with more to come.”

Retool Police service

The facility comes at a time when the police have complained about lack of infrastructure and logistics to empower them fight crime in the country.

Several people from civil society and political parties have urged government to stop the lip service and retool the security agencies especially the police service, following recent upsurge in robbery cases in the country.

“We want to see the police service properly retooled. We want to see the Armed Forces properly retooled. With time if we don’t see that happening definitely we are going to be asking questions. We want it to be done almost immediately because our security agencies are over stretched,”Minority spokesperson on Interior and Defense, James Agalga had said in a Citi News interview.

Government has already announced a budget of Ghc800,000 million to retool the Police Service.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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This he said will ensure that those who want to conduct research would be appropriately guided.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4KDtQFssH1iNsDceqjySOcOnC6IAKYJk”]There seemed to be some misconception about the role of Members of Parliament, and it was about time to confront such mass ignorance now, the First Deputy Speaker noted.

Mr. Osei-Owusu made the statement after MPs from both  theMajority and Minority sides had supported a statement by Dr. Emmanuel Marfo, MP for Oforikrom, on how to assess the performance of MPs in the House.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), and Ghana Watch for some time now, have been publishing periodic assessment reports of MPs in terms of their performance in the House.

However, some critics say the evaluative criteria employed by some of these researchers in relation to the actual work done by MPs, lack internal validity.

Besides, they say many of such studies discount the enormous time used by MPs to follow up on projects, school admissions, job applications, committee meetings and other public interest assignments, such as services on boards and the intellectual contributions deployed during these assignments.

Mr. Osei-Owusu, therefore, directed the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs working with the leadership to set a standardized criteria.

He said the Committee after evaluating the benchmarks, should produce a report to the House, which could be used by the media and civil society groups for their research.

Elevating perception of Parliament

Dr. Marfo, presenting the statement on the Floor of the House, also called on Parliament to set the criteria since the public’s perception of the House was not the best.

He urged the House to rise up and have serious public engagement to align their perception and understanding to their constitutional mandate and function.

“We can no longer be on the defence; the time for MPs and Parliament for that matter to rise up to deal with this growing misconception is now,” he added.

Dr. Marfo also highlighted the misunderstanding on the role of MPs, saying there seemed to be high public interest in the matter.

He cited that that in the IEA study, for instance, majority of the respondents rated the performance of their MPs low to average.

He said 75 percent of the respondents in the study perceived the role of MPs as assisting people or undertaking developmental projects.

Dr. Marfo also stressed the need for massive public education to be able to change the public’s misconceptions about the functions of the MP.

He said as the elected representatives, they had a responsibility to ensure that the people who voted for them understood their roles, otherwise they would have problems sustaining their mandate as they may not be able to meet their expectations, adding that this may account for the high attrition rate in the House.

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Source: GNA

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Joseph Osei Owusu, who’s the Member of Parliament for Bekwai, told Citi News his experience in the last eight years in the House will help him excel.

He was on Thursday approved by the National Council of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to assist Professor Michael Oquaye, who will be the Speaker Parliament.

“Having worked here in Parliament for eight years, having come to understand the rules, knowing where to look for what to guide in the interpretation and the array of talent behind me I will succeed. I am intimidated by how daunting the task is, but I have optimism that if the party considers me to be the most suitable person to play that role for us to deliver on our mandate and the pledges we have made with the people of Ghana, I should feel challenged to be able to deliver to the best of my ability,” Mr. Osei Owusu said.

Other appointments saw Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu become the Majority Leader of the next Parliament, and he will be assisted by Sarah Adwoa Sarfo, who is the MP for Dome Kwabenya.

Kwasi Ameyaw Cheremeh, the MP for Sunyani East Constituency, has also been named as the Majority Chief Whip.

‘Haruna Iddrisu to be Minority leader’

On the other side, the MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, has been named as the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority side in the next Parliament. He will be assisted by the MP for Ketu North, James Klutse Avedzi.

Other leaders selected for the side are Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka, who will maintain his position as the Chief Whip, with the MP for Banda, Ahmed Ibrahim, and the MP for Ada East, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe-Ghansah, serving as deputy Chief Whips.

Meanwhile outgoing Majority leader, Alban Bagbin has been tipped to become second Deputy Speaker of the House in the seventh Parliament starting January 7, 2017.

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By: Jona/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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