Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
VICE PRESIDENT Bawumia has indicated that the best way to get rid of criminal elements from Ghanaian societies is through a strong collaboration between the citizens and the various security agencies.
That, he said, was because the task of maintaining safe communities could not be left only to the security and law enforcement agencies.
He, therefore, stressed the need for all Ghanaians to join in the ‘See something, say something’ campaign launched by the national security, for people to report any suspicious activities of suspected criminals to the security agencies.
This was when the Vice President commissioned 203 Prisons officers, comprising 157 men and 46 women at the Prisons Training School in Accra yesterday.
Dr. Bawumia, therefore, encouraged the public to be more conscious of suspicious activities in their communities and work places and charged everyone to observe and report unusual activities.
Dr. Bawumia said, recent recruitment of 2,000 men and women into the service was part of various interventions by government to strengthen their capacity to deliver on its mandate.
The graduation parade was the climax of six batches of new entrants from the unprecedented figure of 2,000 entrants.
Vice-President Bawumia pointed out that funds were also released for the continuation and completion of the remand prison at Nsawam as well as the first phase of the maximum security prison at Ankaful in the Central Region.
He further lauded the contribution of faith-based organisations particularly the Church of Pentecost, which he said was putting up a number of prisons as well as other corporate bodies to the growth and development of the prisons service in recent time.
Dr. Bawumia was happy about the major rehabilitation programmes the service was undertaking in its quest to better equip inmates for life after prison and particularly mentioned the agricultural enterprises being run by the service.
He took the opportunity to commend the graduates for their effort and said the expertise and skills acquired during the period of training would be used to reinforce inmate welfare and reformation.
He reminded them that the hallmark of security or regimented institution was discipline and professionalism and urged them to abide by those tenets at all times.
Senior Under Officer (SUO) Desire Mawutor Klutse, received the sword of honour for emerging the overall best graduate.
BY Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent