President Akufo-Addo
In the early hours of yesterday, President Akufo-Addo met heads of the various security agencies in the country on his return from the United States of America.
Before sunrise Sunday morning, the president was back in Ghana, even though he was originally scheduled to arrive on Monday.
It was apparently impelled by the recent armed robbery attacks in certain parts of the country, especially Accra and the industrial city of Tema – which have heightened the fear, thereby raising eyebrows.
The meeting, which took place at the Flagstaff House, saw the Ministers of National Security, Defence and Interior, Albert Kan Dapaah, Dominic Nitiwul and Ambrose Dery respectively in attendance.
Also present were the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Major General Obed Akwa and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) David Asante-Apeatu.
By 8:30 am, the security capos had started arriving at the president’s conference room where the meeting was held behind closed doors. It lasted for close to four hours.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who held a similar meeting with the security heads sometime last week, was in attendance.
That gathering saw the IGP embarking on what some preferred to call a ‘shake up’ in the top brass of the Police Service.
Some cynics described it as a knee-jerk reaction to the robberies.
Even though details of yesterday’s meeting were not made public, sources say the president stressed the need to tighten security in the country with stringent measures to clamp down on the activities of the criminals who have become a thorn in the flesh of Ghanaians, especially Accra residents.
He was said to have tasked them to do whatever it takes to restore sanity in the country, with the promise by his government to provide the needed logistical support for the various security agencies in the performance of their duties.
The various security capos were said to have assured the president of their determination to clamp down on the activities of the armed robbers.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent