The President is continuing his foreign assignment with the ultimate goal of wooing investments from the industrialized countries to Ghana. The results are heartwarming.
Even as we relish the positive results emanating from the trips he is currently undertaking, our internal security ambience does not look good.
Various suggestions have been put out towards changing the worrying security picture which can impact negatively on our investment climate if it is not addressed sufficiently.
The President’s efforts would be seriously impaired if internal security suffers such glaring shortcomings. After all the efforts he is putting in to resuscitate the ailing economy such a security situation is the last thing we want to see.
It was heartwarming to learn that the President has directed the provision of a whopping amount of money to the Police so the dearth of logistics can be immediately addressed.
This was before the spate of armed robbery heightened in Accra and Tema recently.
The introduction of choppers and even drones is news we must all relish as these would go a long way in tackling the crime novelty in the country.
A swift reaction from a chopper as armed robbers make their way from crime scenes can spell the difference between a successful robbery operation and a failed one.
It is a fact that the IGP has not done enough movement of top police officers some of who are doing enough to assist him with his project.
An indepth probe of the situation is required. Is the security challenge in the interest of some politicians or even persons within the law enforcement system? Who knows? Such a probe could lead us as a nation to a startling revelation.
We are not police officers but we know for sure that the shakeup as announced yesterday is not enough. There are superior officers holding some appointments who are not ready to help the IGP achieve his objective. Who is in charge of Welfare, a department responsible for the movement of personnel of a certain category?
We should not just regard the development as ordinary occurrences by a bunch of criminals. There could be more to it than meets the eyes.
The transformation exercise under way in the Police should take a critical look at the logistics situation in the service.
We are in a modern world and Ghana being part of this story is not being spared the attendant challenges. This reality calls for the provision to the police the necessary physical and intellectual resources so they would be abreast with the times.
A modern cop should be equipped with such logistics as a side arm and other accoutrements to enable him respond to emergencies and to operate as a modern cop and not an 1894 cop in the Gold Coast Constabulary.
The intelligence capacity of the Police should be given an impetus so that it is would be able to keep the law enforcement agency ahead of the criminals.
The Police, especially District and Divisional Commanders, should operate open door policies so that members of the public can easily come and give important leads to enhance their work.
While many whistleblowers do not have confidence in the police to keep their identities confidential, others find police personnel too unfriendly to approach with critical information.
We shall return to this subject; especially as regards the bad treatment of informants who are critical in the success of policing.
We also have credible information about the fact that Ibo youth from Nigeria are active in the armed robbery industry in the country today and that some of them led the headline making robberies in recent times. Let us wake up from our slumber.