‘Support police with vital information’

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has inaugurated the new Techiman Divisional Police Headquarters, with a call on the public to provide the police with vital information to assist them to maintain law and order.

“If we want peace and order, then we have to be involved in keeping the peace. We all have to be involved in policing, so that we can help the police discharge their duties,” he said.

The inauguration of the building last Friday formed  part of activities the President undertook during his three-day working visit to the Brong Ahafo Region which ended yesterday.

In his entourage were the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunyani West and Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffuor-Awuah; the Minister of Regional Re-organisation and Development, Mr Dan Botwe, who is also the NPP MP for Okere; the NPP  MP for Nkoranza North and Deputy Minister of Defence, Major Derrick Oduro (retd), and the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, who played host.

Project

Work on the project, which was began in February 2016, was stopped along the way because the contractor working on it  demanded a variation in the contract.
It was revived by the current Techiman Municipal Assembly, led by the Chief Executive, Mr Prince Donyina, and was completed at a cost of GH¢706,143.38.

Inauguration

Inaugurating the project, President Akufo-Addo called on the people to have faith in the government, “since I will not disappoint you”.

He recounted that since his inauguration as President, he had been able to fulfill some campaign promises, such as the institution of the free senior high school education, the payment of allowances to teacher trainees and trainee nurses and the payment of what he described as the huge debt that bedeviled the operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

“They doubted my sincerity when I promised to bring about the free SHS programme. Now free SHS has come to stay,” he said, and assured parents that students who would enter SHS in September would benefit from the programme.

On the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, President Akufo-Addo said since the Brong Ahafo Region was the bread basket of the country, as much as15 per cent of resources for the programme had been allocated to the region.

He, therefore, appealed to people in the region, particularly the youth, to embrace the programme to make a living for themselves and also ensure that the country had enough to feed itself and export the surplus to rake in foreign exchange.

The President said while some modest achievements had been recorded since his government assumed power, it had much more in store to provide better living conditions for the people.

IGP

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, thanked the Techiman Municipal Assembly for constructing the edifice as its contribution to the maintenance of peace in the municipality.

“I am not only delighted by the construction of the facility; I am also excited by the role that this facility will play in reducing crime in an area whose population continues to grow,” he said.

He stated that while the police would play their role in ensuring peace, they expected from the beneficiary communities a healthy, transparent, responsible and accountable partnership to strengthen the bond between the police and the public in fighting crime.

“We entreat you to volunteer information on suspected criminals to enable us to work on them in a more proactive manner,” he said.

Attacks on police

The IGP said over the years, there had been attacks on the property of the police, as well as on the personnel, and pointed out that the property of the police belonged to the state.

“Attacking the police is synonymous with inflicting pain on oneself,” he said.

 “I want to believe that as much as I will entreat police officers to be professional, the assembly will continue to give us the necessary support to help us enhance safety and security in the Techiman municipality and its environs,” he added.

Mr Asante-Apeatu expressed appreciation to the government for its commitment to retool the police.

Techiman Omanhene

For his part, the Omanhene of the Techiman Traditional Area, Oseadeyo Ameyaw Akumfi, said the traditional council had initiated a project for the construction of a police barracks by providing a large tract of land and moulding 10,000 blocks.

He said, however, that a promise made by the Police Administration to support the project was yet to be fulfilled and called on the IGP to collaborate with the council to bring the project into being to provide accommodation for policemen posted to the municipality.

For his part, Mr Donyina said he took a cue from the President’s resolve to complete all good projects initiated by the previous government and called on the police to properly maintain the edifice.