James Agalga
THE MINORITY in Parliament has called on President Akufo-Addo to check the increasing number of criminal activities in the country, particularly armed robberies, to prevent them from becoming a pattern and malign the image of Ghana.
The NDC members on the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament said Ghanaians no longer felt safe compared to the immediate past.
Led by the Ranking Member, James Agalga, the Minority insisted at a press conference recently that “Violent crime related cases particularly robbery is shaking the foundation of our nation and it is only fair and a duty for us to call on the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s administration to up its game.”
The press conference was called at the instance of recent robberies which have claimed the lives of some people, including G/Constable Emmanuel Osei of SWAT Unit of the Ghana Police Service and one Afua Badu, a trader at James Town.
The Builsa North MP stated that the incidences of robberies were becoming too many and that the nation could not continue to witness the killing sprees of police officers and citizens through violent crimes, adding that “losing five police officers within a week through different causes is quite worrying (sic).”
“The icing on the cake was the broad daylight robbery at James Town in Accra, the capital city of Ghana with the highest number of police officers,” Mr. Agalga indicated.
He attributed the situation to the low morale of police officers as a result of the many senior officers who were either on contract or extension of service.
“We agree that giving contracts to officers after they hit the mandatory retirement age of 60 is the prerogative of the President but if Government decisions do not produce the results that citizens expect, we will miss the peace and security that we so much desire and become spectators and not citizens,” he noted.
According to Mr. Agalga, citizens’ trust for the police must not be allowed to break, and therefore called on the President to “demonstrate leadership to ensure the peace and security of the country, which has remained the oasis of peace in a troubled region, is not compromised.”
He said it was a known fact in policing that there was an inverse relation between the morale of officers and crime rate, and argued that the continuous attack on police officers and civilians by armed robbers had demoralised the men and women in uniform “occasioning violent crime becoming a daily affair from Hamile or Paga through Techiman to Accra.”
“In modern times, SMART policing is the new concept many democracies are adopting. SMART policing promotes citizen friendliness. We cannot be successful in policing without intelligence, and the creation of a Police Intelligence Directorate to serve as an anchor to police operations seems not to be hitting the right notes.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House