IGP David Asante-Apeatu
It’s exhilarating to note that ever since a heightened police and public cooperation was exacted on the killer gangs in Accra their guns have gone silent. At least for now; it is our hope that the silence will remain the feature of the country in the days, weeks, months and even years to come.
We have lived without gun-wielding criminals stalking us until a breed of politicians assumed the mantle of leadership at a certain time in our history and proceeded to distribute firearms to land guards and others with dodgy characters in a bid to hold on to power even when the people say otherwise in elections. That is the sad story of the proliferation of small arms in our society.
The signs are that we can easily restore the status quo in our country. Ghana can eliminate killer hoodlums when we resolve to do so.
The massive condemnation of the deadly robberies and the resolve of Ghanaians to support their compatriots in uniform to go after the criminals has paid off and it is showing in a dearth of stories about robbers on the prowl, especially the nation’s capital.
The decision by government to really provide the necessary logistics to annihilate the criminals has provided an impetus for an all-time high morale.
We must maintain the momentum so the message will be loud and clear without ambiguity to the criminals local and foreign that we won’t allow them to force us into submission. We are many and determined and they are few and cowardly.
We wish to exceptionally salute the IGP and his officers and men for the feat chalked.
The achievement did not come because the robbers were outgunned but because the necessary intelligence was forthcoming and the law enforcement agents quickly worked upon these to the advantage of national security.
It is not over yet because criminals will always go underground and strike when we think they have abandoned their trade.
Let us not lose guard even as we wait for the promised logistics from government to be delivered. For those who would have rather the bloodletting continued so they would have access to lies to peddle about a so-called inability of the government to manage the security situation let them bury their heads in shame.
Whether they like it or not the police and the good people of this country have subdued the criminals. Criminals who raise their heads above the parapet should be snipped precisely.
Indeed most of the suspected perpetrators of the killings have been nabbed and those still at large will soon be grabbed. It makes us wonder why they think they would not be fished out.
We should resolve as a people with a common destiny to cooperate with the law enforcement agents to deny criminals the freedom to operate with impunity as they did a few weeks ago and which put the country on edge.