Police commended for role in COVID-19 fight

Personnel of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) have been commended for the various roles they are playing in ensuring the safety of Ghanaians and the enforcement of the restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

The Chief Director of the Northern Regional Coordinating Council (NORCC), Alhaji Alhassan Issahaku, who gave the commendation, said personnel of the service had played critical roles since Ghana recorded its first case of COVID-19 and their contribution towards the fight against the pandemic needed to be recognised.

Exercise

Alhaji Issahaku was speaking at the start of the fumigation and disinfection exercise of all police facilities across the Northern, Savannah and North East regions that began at the Northern Regional Police Headquarters in Tamale on Wednesday, May 20, 2020.

The exercise formed part of measures put in place by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

The exercise being undertaken by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company, will see all police stations, offices and cells disinfected, while barracks will be fumigated to get rid of all insects, rodents and other micro-organisms likely to spread the virus.

Alhaji Issahaku, who represented the Northern Regional Minister and Chairman of the Regional Security Council (RCC), Mr Salifu Saeed, said the exercise was to step up efforts to prevent the spread of the virus and to recognise the important role the security agencies had played so far towards the fight against the pandemic.

Commendation

The Northern Regional Police Commander, Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr Timothy Y. Bonga, welcomed the exercise and expressed his appreciation to Zoomlion for undertaking such an exercise.

“We are one of the agencies that are so much involved in trying to make sure that people are safe and secure against this COVID-19 pandemic, and so our people need to be very strong to be able to ensure that they carry out their legitimate duties of enforcing the restrictions to ensure that we are all safe," he stated.

COP Bonga thanked the Police Administration and the government for making their facilities safe so that they could work to deliver what was expected of them.

He urged all residents of the region to continue to abide by the safety protocols and the restrictions, saying “when we come after you for violating the restrictions, it is not that we hate you but because we love you and want you to stay alive and contribute your quota to the development of this country”.

The General Manager of Savanna Waste Limited, a subsidiary of Zoomlion, Mr Peter Dawuni, said their doors were open to all individuals and corporate organisations that wanted to disinfect their homes and premises against the spread of COVID-19.

Accra disinfection

Meanwhile, the General Manager of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr Morgan Acquah, said the company would complete the disinfection of all 105 police facilities in the Greater Accra Region by next week Thursday.

He said the exercise was key to ensuring the safety of people who visited the police stations.

Mr Acquah said this when ZGL disinfected the Dansoman, Mamprobi and Korle Bu police stations in Accra yesterday.

It saw the disinfection of counters, cells and offices, among other places.

He said the chemical being used, chlorine, was safe and not harmful to humans.

At the three police stations, the district commanders — Chief Superintendent Daniel Jeffery Darko, Cephas Arthur and DSP Cephas Edjeani, commended Zoomlion for undertaking the exercise, adding that it would go a long way to ensure the safety of personnel and visitors.

In addition to adhering to all the protocols, they said they had put in place measures to ensure social distancing at the various cells by reducing the number of inmates.

According to them, only persons who had engaged in serious offences were kept in the cells.