Put abandoned police station to use Gbawe residents appeal to police administration
Residents of Gbawe-Bulemin and its environs have appealed to the Police Administration to, as a matter of urgency, operationalise an abandoned structure meant for a police station in the community.
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This is in view of the constant violence unleashed on the residents by land guards who move in groups of five and above.
The land guards, mostly youth groups, wield machetes, sharp objects and guns. The residents pointed out that the structure, which was initiated by the residents, had been completed for about four years now but had still not been put to any use.
“At the moment, it is overgrown by bushes. The offices for the personnel to man the station have all the fittings in place. The toilets and baths for the cell inmates are all well fixed. What is left are the furniture and office cabinets,” Mr Emmanuel Awere, the spokesperson for the residents, said.
He intimated that “the Police Administration is aware of this facility. What beats the imagination of the residents is why it has not taken up the facility”.
In recent times, the police have called on residents of communities to collaborate with them, yet the police have neglected such great contribution by the residents of Gbawe.
Reign of terror
Mr Awere said the activities of the land guards had put fear in the residents of Gbawe-Bulemin and surrounding areas.
He stated that the youth groups were operating apparently under the supervision of men who claimed to be custodians and owners of the lands of Gbawe and Weija.
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“They claim to act for and on behalf of their superiors. These superiors operate with nicknames; notorious among them being “Whether”, “Obama” and “Soldier”.
According to Mr Awere, “the traditional authorities are quick to direct victims of extortion and attacks to the police, yet it is these same authorities who are quick to bail out these miscreants when the miscreants are arrested because they are indigenes”.
Police patrols
He said in the past the police kept a patrol team in the community to ward off the operations of land guards but for some time now those patrols had stopped.
“It is for this reason that the Police Administration must put the ‘idle’ structure to use to stamp out or rather flush out the miscreants,” he stressed.