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Ghana’s security in ‘safe hands’

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has observed that Ghana’s security was in safe hands contrary to the hullabaloo about claims of insecurity in the country. 

Admitting that the state institutions mandated to maintain law and order in the country may be facing some challenges, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said, government was not resting on its oars to ensure that every citizen got the maximum protection from the state. 

Issues of security have dominated national discussion at the turn of the year following alleged contract killings of at least three people and kidnappings of at least three girls in Takoradi which have irked the citizenry. 

The above were tailed by gun violence that characterised the January 31, 2017 Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election and the killing of a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress activist by unknown gunmen in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi. 

The Ayawaso West Wuogon incident led to the formation of a three-member Commission of Inquiry to probe the matter which led to the injury of at least 18 people said to be members of the opposition National Democratic Congress.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his State of the Nation address to Parliament last Thursday, reassured of his government’s resolve to nipping the trend in the bud. 

Moving the motion for the debate of the President’s address in Parliament yesterday, Mr Oppong Nkrumah, MP, Ofoase/Ayirebi, said the President’s commitment was evident in the provision of logistics to the security agencies. 

For example, the journalist turned politician said that apart from the 200 vehicles given to the police service for operational activities, the military had also been given 140 vehicles to support their operations. 

On personnel, Mr Oppong-Nkrumah said 4,000 personnel were to be recruited into the police service to augment the existing numbers. 

Mr Oppong Nkrumah lauded the President for establishing the Commission of Inquiry; believing that it would be the antidote to by-election violence the country has witnessed over the period.

Seconding the motion, however, James Agalga, a former Deputy Interior Minister said the security situation under the Akufo-Addo led New Patriotic Party government was the worse since the commencement of the fourth republic in 1993. 

In his view, the decision to use a Commission of Inquiry in the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election debacle was an attempt to shield persons who were caught on tape perpetuating the violence. 

Mr Agalga was of the opinion that the President’s invitation to the leading political parties to sit around the table to think of how to disband political vigilante groups was “problematic”. 

He said laws to deal with acts of vigilantism were replete and that the President should focus on enforcing same rather than suggesting a new legislation to deal with the phenomenon. 

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI 

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