We need decent houses to do our work – Berekum Police

Effective policing and maintenance of law and order in the Berekum Municipality of the Brong Ahafo is largely hampered due to the lack of accommodation facilities for personnel in the area.

The situation has compelled the law enforcement officers to stay with relatives, friends and in most cases live in dilapidated ancient buildings bequeathed to the institution by the colonial administration according to the Municipal Police Commander, Chief Supt. Nicholas Opare Ofosuhene.

“The police department in Berekum is desperately losing it core function of maintaining law and order, and the challenge is lack of accommodation for the men. All the officers are living in very dilapidated and inaccessible rented premises because the barracks is small and was built in 1958 for a small community and looking at Berekum now, we cannot boast of any better police station apart from what we have now,” he lamented.

He therefore called on government and development partners to come to the aid of the police by helping to provide accommodation and others logistics to enhance effective and efficient policing.

Chief Supt. Opare Ofosuhene made the appeal in a Citi News interview on the sidelines of a Town Hall Meeting organized by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the Information Services Department.

He noted that the increase in social vices and deviant lifestyles such as prostitution and abuse of tramadol, calls for concerted efforts in crime management. He thus asked for the support of  traditional authorities in the release of land for the construction of police stations.

“We are doing our best in arresting and prosecuting them, but the menace still persists due to our challenges. So we need to intensify security with the deployment of more men and logistics. We need three more police stations in Berekum to help provide security for the citizenry since Berekum has become a cosmopolitan area”, he stated.

The Municipal Chief Executive of Berekum, Hon. Kofi Adjei, said the assembly from January-May, 2018, spent an estimated amount of GHc 2, 500,915.00 towards the provision of education, health, and sanitation needs of residents of Berekum, Kyereyawkrom, Oforikrom, Anyinaso and Nanasuano among others.

He assured government was putting in the necessary mechanisms to propel massive economic transformation of the country.

He mentioned that a total of 623 households and 23 schools in the municipality are beneficiaries of the LEAP and school feeding programmes, and urged parents to take advantage of them.

He highlighted government’s flagship interventions such as Planting for Food and Jobs, One Village One Dam, Free Senior High School, the One District One Factory, Nations Builders Corps (NABCO) and the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plans (NEIP) among others as measures being taken to improve on the living standards of residents, and encouraged the youth to take advantage of the programmes.

The Chief Accountant, Ministry of Information, Mr. Stephen Afful Mensah in an address, commended the display of political maturity between the current MCE and the immediate past MCE Hon. Opoku Boakye Yiadom, who sat together through the programme and urged residents to emulate their commitment for the development of the town.

He appealed to residents to honour their tax obligations to enable the assembly mobilize enough resources to execute the much-needed development projects.

The Town Hall concept is an initiative by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to create a platform for citizens to interact with key stakeholders to deepen the country’s local governance process.

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By: Mashoud Kombat/citinewsroom.com/citinewsroom.com/Ghana

The post We need decent houses to do our work – Berekum Police appeared first on Citi Newsroom.

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