President and founder of policy think tank, IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has asked the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery not to harbour any plans of procuring helicopters for use by the Police Service.<\/p>\n
Following the upsurge in armed robbery cases in Ghana, Ambrose Dery said government is in the process of acquiring some helicopters to help the police deal with the robbers.<\/p>\n
He said government will\u00a0 procure \u201cabout three helicopters<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u2026 and they will be stationed in Accra with the police and they will help in the backups.\u201d<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”vsw4DL32sF9yaPdTMyCLFnuSXwp6RM1C”]But speaking on Citi FM<\/strong>\u2019s news analysis programme, The Big Issue<\/strong> on Saturday, Franklin Cudjoe advised the Minister to shelf such dreams and put the supposed GHc800 million budgetary allocation to the Police Service to better use.<\/p>\n He insists that despite the negligible allocation, the Police could still greatly improve their visibility on the streets to deter criminals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve heard about some GHc800 million that will be given, the good thing would have been to find out where the GHc160 million allocated last year went. I can say that it\u2019s useful but that is nothing because it is about 0.2% of the entire budget for the year 2018. The GHc800 million that will come, please we beg the Interior Minister; he should stop entertaining these dreams of helicopters,\u201d Franklin Cudjoe added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe police service ought to be properly resourced but when they\u2019ve been so resourced, they shouldn\u2019t use it the way they want. They have to be visible on the streets,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n GHc800m for police<\/strong><\/p>\n President Akufo-Addo during the State of the Nation Address in February 2018, indicated that government will allocate some GH\u00a2 800million<\/strong><\/a><\/span> to the Ghana Police Service to ensure improvement in its operations.<\/p>\n He said the amount will be used for the procurement of modern policing equipment and gadgets including helicopters and drones to enhance the capacity of the service in dealing with crime in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe police, the prosecution services and the judiciary owe it to all of us to make us feel and be safe. I do not need to repeat that crime wears no political colours, and I am certain that message has gone down to all\u2026The law enforcement agencies will crack down very hard on all those who would disturb the peace of our nation\u2026We will give the Police the resources they need to do their job,\u201d Akufo-Addo added.<\/p>\n \u2018Wave of robbery\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n There appears to be a heightened wave of robbery attacks in the country in recent months with some of the worst cases reported in the last few weeks.<\/p>\n A number of incidents have involved brazen attacks by the robbers on individuals organisations in broad daylight.<\/p>\n A\u00a0Lebanese was shot and killed<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at Tema Industrial Area this week with the assailants making away with GHS 200,000 he had withdrawn from a bank minutes earlier<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019re in control\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service has given indications that it is in control of the situation and will go every length to protect the citizenry.<\/p>\n Following the recent developments, the government, together with the various security agencies, announced new steps and directives to address the situation.<\/p>\n The measures include an order for forex bureaus and financial institutions to install CCTV cameras at their workplaces as well as improved police visibility in crime-prone areas.<\/p>\n The top hierarchy\u00a0of Ghana Police Service has also been\u00a0reshuffled<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by the IGP, David Asante-Apeatu with a number of notable changes including George Akuffo Dampare, Director General of Police Operations, being reassigned to head the Police Research and Planning Department.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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