DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Danquah, Reverend Dr Paul Frimpong and other senior police officers in a group photograph with the participants
The Chairman of the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Reverend Dr Paul Frimpong, has urged the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to investigate how some arms clerks issue licences to people.
He said appropriate sanctions must be meted out to arms clerks who do not follow due process in issuing out licences to people.
“This is because an arms clerk who issues a licence to an unqualified person endangers the lives of people in a whole community, if not the country.”
He disclosed this at the closing ceremony of a two–week training for 80 arms and ammunition clerks selected across the country.
Dr Frimpong averred that arms clerks play a very critical role in ensuring peace, security and stability in the country.
“If they do their work well, there is peace and stability, but on the other hand if they are neglected and their capacity is below the required standard, then they could unknowingly become agents of arms proliferation.”
The United Nations estimates that there are about 875 million small arms in the world, with majority in the hands of civilians.
The report indicated that about 14 billion units of ammunition are manufactured every year, which is enough to kill every person in the world twice over.
The Chairman of the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons revealed that about 1,000 people die daily as a result of the availability of arms.
“Now that you have been given the required training, the nation expects nothing but excellence from you.
“The nation and your superiors expect you to be vigilant and knowledgeable in issuing weapon licences to applicants and ensuring that any applicant who appears before you meets the legal and regulatory requirements before you issue the licence.”
The Director-General of CID DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Danquah, in an address, said since 2014 there had been no training for arms clerks in the country, resulting in misconduct on the part of the clerks.
“It has therefore become necessary to organize this training to let clerks know their duties and responsibilities.
The Commandant of the Detectives Training Academy, Superintendent Benjamin Affisah said personnel were taken through various topics in firearms management, both theory and practical, as well as offences in the registration of arms and ammunition, among others.
Present were the Deputy CID Boss, ACP Francis Aboagye Nyarko, Director in charge of Operations at CID, ACP Joseph Oklu Gyamera, among others.
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey