The Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery has stated that upsurge of kidnapping in the country, rather the trend had declined in comparison to previous years.
The Minister said that 77 cases of kidnapping were recorded in 2013 and 76 in 2014. The figure declined to 58 in 2018 and 47 from January to date.
Mr Dery stated this when he joined the Nandom District Assembly, where he is Member of Parliament, to meet with the media and discuss issues pertinent to the development of the area, in its maiden meet-the-press series at Nandom on Monday.
He stated that although 47 cases where recorded, 21 of them had so far been investigated and dealt with, adding that “17 victims were rescued- six in Accra, five in Ashanti, four in the Bono Area and two in the Western area of the country.”
Mr Dery indicated that 10 persons had been put before court, facing various charges with regards to kidnapping whereas four had been convicted for their involvement or otherwise in the menace.
“So we are on course, the security of the nation is not in jeopardy as people will have it appear, what we need most from you is information and refusing to shield criminals even if they are related to you in one form or the other,” he said.
He said that strategic steps had also been taken to maintain security in the Upper West Region, stating that the posting of some key officers to the region was to curtail the high incidence of crime in the region.
Mr Dery said that the presence of the experienced officers had turned the security fortunes of the region around, leading to the arrest and conviction of some very notorious criminals who were depriving residents of their serenity.
“We also have the Operation Conquest Fist, a combination of military, police, immigration and other security intelligence at the borders and even within the border towns to maintain law and order and proffer counter terrorism measures to protect citizens,” he stated.
Touching on the issue of posting police officers to the region, Mr Dery stated that government has introduced measures to get more officers to the northern part of Ghana, which included part of the Bono area as well as Western and Volta where personnel usually refused posting.
“What government intends to do is to reduce the number of years for promotion from Constable to Chief Inspector which is normally 4 years. The years will be reduced to 3 for personnel who accept posting to these areas,” he announced.
He urged officers to be guided by the sense of duty and patriotism to render their services to the nation in whichever capacity and location their services would be needed per their terms of engagement.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, NANDOM
