Northern Regional Police stations get metal detectors

Story: Vincent Adedze, Tamale
07/03/08

THE Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Iddris, has entreated the Ghana Police Service in Tamale to speed up investigations into the recent death of a police officer who was on duty at the residence of the Deputy Regional Police Commander in Tamale.
Alhaji Iddris also stressed the need for the Police Service to find ways of retrieving the weapon stolen from Lance Corporal Kpeglo before his untimely death.
The minister said this at the presentation of six sets of metal detectors to the police administration to be distributed to the six districts including Tamale.
The items included body search hand scanners, super wand, pin pointer, super ground search equipment and other items worth about £5,000.
They were provided by the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) with support from Oxfam Great Britain and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), all non-governmental organisations.
The other beneficiary districts are the Yendi Municipal, Nanumba North, East Mamprusi, Zabzugu-Tatale and Saboba-Chereponi.
The equipment will help ensure effective policing in the beneficiary districts that are considered flashpoints in terms of occurrences of conflicts in the region.
Alhaji Iddris said the police had all the expertise to expose the perpetrators of that heinous crime and they should not be allowed to get away with it.
“Insecurity and development are not bedfellows and so I urge the people of the region to ensure that they avoid all forms of lawlessness,” he stressed.
He said the equipment had come at the right time and that it would ultimately enhance the operations of the Police Service in the beneficiary districts in particular and the region as a whole.
The Director of FOSDA, Madam Afi Yakubu, said “we have to tackle illegal arms possession because it undermines our fledgling democracy”.
“We have to ensure that all unresolved conflicts are amicably settled without the use of violence and that come December 2008, we would be celebrating yet another victory,” she stressed.
Madam Yakubu further indicated that her outfit would continue to support all efforts to rid the country of illicit small arms and light weapons.
She also entreated civil society groups and the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to support the efforts of the police to enhance community security and democratic governance.
The Regional Police Commander, Mr Ephraim Brakatu, commended FOSDA and its partners for the gesture and gave a pledge of the Police Service’s preparedness to improve on security in the region.
“Ethnic, chieftaincy and land disputes in this region have compelled many people to take to arms; it is very difficult for the police to check the proliferation of arms in the region because of our inability to get the needed logistics,” he pointed out.
The commander urged the police personnel to impart the knowledge they would acquire through the use of the equipment to their colleagues to improve on security in the region.