Govt gives 64 vehicles to police

The government has handed over 64 more vehicles to the Ghana Police Service to augment its fleet and improve on its operational capability.

The new vehicles include 20 Toyota Landcruisers, 19 Toyota Hilux pick-ups and 25 Toyota Corolla saloon cars.

They are the third batch of vehicles to be handed over to the police since the assumption of office of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The presentation of the new vehicles brings to 264 the number of vehicles given to the Ghana Police Service in two years.

In December 2017, the President launched “Operation Calm Life” and provided 200 vehicles and 300 motorbikes for the service to help maintain law and order.

Presentation ceremony

At a short ceremony at the Police Headquarters in Accra yesterday, the Minister of the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to build a strong Police Service capable of ensuring the safety and security of the people and maintain the territorial integrity of the country.

He said the government would continue to mobilise all resources at its disposal to enable the police to give the people the kind of service they deserved.

Mr Dery said the government was retooling the service to facilitate mobility of personnel to enable them to perform their duties effectively and efficiently.

He said the government could not wait for the arrival of all the consignment of vehicles earmarked for the service before handing them over but would do so as and when they arrived, since the service was in dire need of vehicles.

Committed resources

According to the minister, the government had also committed resources to procure kits, gear and quantities of other essential equipment for the Police Service.

He urged personnel of the service to properly maintain the vehicles and use them to serve and protect Ghanaians to “make Ghana safe and everybody safe, and in terms of internal security, you must be up and doing”.

He assured the personnel that the government would not migrate the police or other security agencies from CAP 30 to the SSNIT Pension Scheme and dispelled assertions by some parliamentarians that the Cabinet had approved a move by the President to migrate the security agencies.

He noted that the President would not permit such a migration or anything that would be detrimental to the security agencies after they had served the nation at the peril of their lives. He added that the government would ensure that personnel of all the security agencies would be well catered for during their retirement.

Retooling service

For his part, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, expressed his appreciation to the President for showing a commitment to retool the service.

He said adding the new vehicles to the police fleet would go a long way  to enhance mobility, as well as the operational capacity of the service.

He also thanked the Minister of the Interior for a wonderful collaboration between the ministry and the Police Administration over the last two years, adding: “Working with you has been a blessing and I hope that we shall continue in the same spirit, moving forward.”

The Deputy IGP, Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, said he was very hopeful that the vehicles would improve tremendously the operational capability and effectiveness of the Police Service.