The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has proposed the establishment of a special unit within the Ghana Police Service (GPS) which will be responsible for sports activities in the country.
This came up at a meetingheld between the service and the executive of the GFA on Friday at the Police Headquarters, in Accra.
The meeting formed part of the Proactive Preventive Policing Strategy of the Service and was also attended by officials of all the 18 Ghana Premier League (GPL) Clubs.
The engagement was aimed at identifying challenges associated with sports security including lack of security cameras at the stadium, the lack of prosecution for crimes related to the sports sector, corruption in sports and others.
Briefing the media, General Secretary of the GFA, Mr. Prosper Harrison Addo said several concerns including the inadequate number of police personnel deployed for stadium duties, lack of CCTV cameras at the stadia, hooliganism, lack of prosecution of sports-related crimes, narcotic use by spectators during matches and the management of stadium gates have often been expressed but little effort have gone in to address them.
He said the GFA will work together with the Police to ensure that there is sanity before, during and after games.
Mr Addo urged club owners, administrators and fans to aid in fishing out individuals who will cause mayhem at match venues to be apprehended and dealt with by the police.
Responding, the Acting-Director of Police Public Affairs, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kwesi Fori assured that the Police Service was determined to guarantee the safety of spectators, match officials, players, and other patrons at all football games in the country.
According to him, the Police has taken a strong stand in match-fixing and manipulation and that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Intelligence Unit (IU) will deal with perpetrators in accordance with the law.
He assured the FA of deploying more personnel at match venues and cautioned clubs who knowthe hooligans to hand them over to the police to reduce such violence.
BY LINUS SIAW NARTEY
