We’ll equip police to deal with lawlessness — Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated the government’s commitment to marshall available resources to equip the police to deal decisively with the rising tide of indiscipline, lawlessness and mob justice.

He said the issue of law and order was particularly important, at a time when indiscipline, lawlessness and mob justice were threatening the rule of law.

He said it was, therefore, vital for the government to offer full support to the police for them to maintain law and order.

President Akufo-Addo said this when he inaugurated a new  office complex for the Tesano Divisional Police Command and the Tesano Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service in Accra yesterday.

The office complex has offices, with private washrooms for the Divisional Commander, the Divisional Crime Officer and the DOVVSU Commander.

It also has station offices for divisional officers, a DOVVSU General Office, a 10-seater conference room, a kitchen, a dining room, five washrooms, an executive lobby, a general lobby, a conducive counter-back area and two modernised cells with washrooms for women and juveniles.

Rehabilitation

“This year, we are undertaking the rehabilitation of police stations throughout the country to standardise infrastructure. Our aim is to strengthen the service, fashioning it into an honest, disciplined, efficient and robust force whose emphasis will be on proactive and preventive policing, rather than reactive,” he said.

In addition to recruiting some 4,000 more policemen this year, the President said the government had, since coming into office, recruited some 13,500 young men and women into the Community Protection module of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

While indicating that about 5,000 more people would be engaged under the protection module of the YEA, he said the government was procuring at least 1,000 new vehicles as part of efforts to equip the police this year.

Already, he said, 200 pick-ups had been made available to the police under Operation Calm Life, while 200 more saloon vehicles were being procured for the service.

“Resources have been allocated for police kits, protective gear and adequate quantities of other essential equipment. On their part, we insist that the police should pay particular attention to the proper maintenance of these equipment and facilities.

“Residents must also co-operate with the police and give them maximum backing in the discharge of their duties,” he said.

The President said he was confident that with the citizenry and the police joined together at the frontline in the fight against crime, “we can help establish an orderly society, governed by the rule of law”.

Philanthropy

In a welcome address read on his behalf by Mr Kwame Sefa Kayi, the host of the Morning Show on Peace FM, the President of the Despite Group of Companies, Mr Osei Kwame, said he was pleased to have completed the third multi-million cedi edifice as part of his birthday commemoration this year.

Mr Osei Kwame, popularly known as “Despite”, is known for his philanthropic activities.

Earlier this year, he donated two multi-million cedi edifices to the nation, saying those buildings were his modest social responsibility to Ghana.

They are the Mr Osei Kwame Despite Children’s Block at the 37 Military Hospital, which was inaugurated by the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Peter Kofi Faidoo, on February 2, 2018, and the state-of-the-art police station recently inaugurated at Wiamoase in the Ashanti Region.

Security

The philosophy behind his philanthropic activities, Mr Osei Kwame explained, was that “assured security in a country brings peace and harmony and these help foster rapid economic development”.

He urged all private businessmen and people who were blessed and had the necessary resources to support the Police Administration and the nation, adding: “We cannot leave this task to the government alone to accomplish.”

In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, said ensuring peace and security was important for the growth of the economy.

The provision of the office accommodation for the police, he said, would not only provide a congenial working environment for working but also enhance the operational capacity of the policemen.

For his part, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr David Asante-Apeatu, in a speech read on his behalf, said the Tesano Divisional Police Command was created on May 30, 2005 out of the Nima Division as part of a way to map out strategy to effectively deal with crime in the area.