PThe Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, has tasked agencies under his ministry to be vigilant and share relevant information across board to ensure effective collaboration in the fight against crime in the country.
According to the minister, the country could only continue to enjoy accelerated socio-economic development and attract both local and foreign investors, when premium was placed on the protection of human life and property.
“In the light of recent development, I urge you all to be vigilant, share relevant information amongst agencies and collaborate effectively with each other to deliver our respective mandates as well as the sector’s mandate,” he added.
Mr Dery made the call at the opening of the 2018 annual review meeting of all the agencies under the ministry in Accra on Wednesday.
The meeting which is held annually is a statutory requirement which affords the ministry the opportunity to discuss challenges encountered in the previous year and also discuss workplan for the following year.
He said the ministry was poised in ensuring internal security, a stable and peaceful environment for sustainable national development.
“The ministry will continue to monitor and evaluate its policies and regulate programmes relating to the protection of life and property, disaster prevention and mitigation, immigration, crime control, prevention and detection, safe custody, reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners,” he emphasised.
Mr Dery said it was gratifying to note that the implementation of the sector’s activities for the previous year had yielded a lot of remarkable results with some of the security agencies being equipped with some of their critical operational needs which were not available.
“For instance, the Ghana National Fire Service has almost completed the process for the procurement of two hydraulic platforms, which would hopefully be a great stride in helping to fight fires in high rise buildings. We are poised to ensure that all the agencies under the ministry get their fair share of equipment and logistics,” he added.
He said in spite of the successes chalked, the ministry would continue to promote policies and programmes which would ensure that “we achieve their mandate of maintaining peace and order in the country”.
On her part, the Chief Director of the ministry, Mrs Adelaide Annor, expressed her sincere gratitude to the heads of agencies, directors, officers and men and all staff for their hard work and support throughout the year in maintaining peace, order and security of the country.
She said human safety and security continued to be paramount for the development of the country, “we, therefore, need to ensure that the security services and other agencies are well equipped to fight crime and ensure that the objectives of the sector which is ensuring internal peace and security are achieved”.
By Cliff Ekuful
