Kan-Dapaah
The Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has said 10,000 more closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and cellular technologies are being installed across the country.
According to him, installation works of about 6,500 cameras have been completed, with a little over 4,000 cameras powered and connected online, mainly in Accra, Kumasi and other regional capitals.
Answering questions on the floor of Parliament yesterday, the minister stated that the installation of the CCTV cameras had aided the country to achieve many successes in “detecting many infractions and criminal activities, including helping us solve recent violent crimes such as armed robbery and kidnappings.”
Mr. Kan-Dapaah said video surveillance systems has become a critical security tool for monitoring, providing real time surveillance and aiding security agencies to effectively identify and respond to security threats all across the world.
He indicated that the new installation works formed part of the second phase of the Integrated National Security Communications Enhancement Project Alpha Project (Alpha Project- Phase 2) intended to enhance the operational efficiencies of the security and intelligence agencies of the country.
He explained that the government (through the Ministry of National Security), Huawei Technologies and China Machinery Engineering Corporation, in December, 2018, signed a contract for the implementation of the second phase of the project to further enhance the capabilities of the system, by installing 10,000 more cameras, and extending its cellular capabilities to every district across the country.
“This phase commenced in January, 2020 and was initially scheduled to be completed in 18 months. However, due to logistical challenges introduced by the Covid-19 pandemic, project completion is now slated for December, 2021,” he added.
He said the first phase of the Alpha Project commenced earlier with its contract signed in 2012 to install a network of CCTV cameras and cellular technologies to enhance the operational efficiencies of the security and intelligence agencies of Ghana.
“That phase of the project delivered about 800 CCTV cameras in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, some critical border areas like Aflao, Elubo and Paga, other critical national installations and some major towns across the country,” he revealed.
He added that “it also delivered a National Command Centre and other Operations centres for emergency response and command and control for Law Enforcement, Security and Intelligence, and Emergency Response Agencies.”
The minister said the project was largely successful, enhancing the communications of the various agencies and assisting to detect crime, road infractions, supporting major public events and providing evidence to support investigations and prosecution of many cases where some details were captured by the CCTV network.
Cameras At Police Station
Mr. Kan-Dapaah stated that as part of the project, Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia in February, 2018 announced plans by the government to fix CCTV cameras in all police stations across the country.
He noted that the plan was integral to the roll out of the phase two of the Alpha Project, and continued that currently, the police have a total of 900 police stations in operation across the country and that “the phase 2 project is providing CCTV coverage for all 432 Regional, Divisional and District Police Stations out of the 900, to enable monitoring of these installations; and the remaining stations would be covered in subsequent phases of the project.”
“Roll out is currently ongoing, and all 432 stations will be completed before the end of the year. Even as brisk efforts are made to complete the existing phase, the relevant planning works are also being carried out, to pursue additional phased deployments of cameras to cover the outstanding areas that cannot be served under this phase,” he disclosed.
CCTV Assessment
The minister said an assessment of CCTV deployments across the world indicates that countries with enhanced security have a greater saturation of cameras per citizen for security and surveillance purposes.
“As per research carried out in 2020, the city of London has 73.31 cameras per 1,000 citizens, Beijing has 55.03 cameras per 1,000 citizens and New Delhi has 33.73 cameras per 1,000 people,” he asserted.
According to him, Ghana is currently doing less than one camera per 1,000 citizens and the nation needs to make the relevant investments in the sector to enhance our security.
“It is expected that a phased approach by Ghana would enable us to deploy the right level of CCTV camera saturation that would make us more effective and efficient in delivering a safer Ghana to live and conduct business in,” he disclosed.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House