IMANI President, Franklin Cudjoe has taken a swipe at the Interior Minister for planning to buy three helicopters for the Ghana Police Service at the expense of their pressing needs as public servants.
Interior Minister's decision is anchored on the recent upsurge in crime, particularly armed robbery across Ghana.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony for servicemen who lost their lives in the February 28 crossroad shooting, the Minister said processes have commenced for the procurement of vehicles, helicopters and other equipment needed for the smooth operations of the security services.
“We have focused to fight crime, it has never been so. In the past it has been a general approach to crime and being reactive…the law has provided that in terms of security matters, you can have sole sourcing, we might have to do that to quickly get things in.â€
He added that they will in the meantime procure “about three helicopters… and they will be stationed in Accra with the police and they will help in the backups.â€
Franklin Cudjoe, however thinks, buying three helicopters from the announced GHS800 Million is not a necessity now.
In a post sighted by Prime News, the President of IMANI Africa suggests the police should be well equipped “with guns, modern guns, not world war 2 type weapons they have now and a place to lay their heads. The Police Service is in such a decrepit state and I am appalled. I do not think we have a proper Police Service. We are supposed to have about 52,000 Police personnel but as we speak we have about 38,000 and this year, they will only recruit 4,000."
He added that “We do not have to belabour the point that the Police Service has not been treated properly. The welfare of the Police is a serious matter. As we speak only 6,200 of them are properly accommodated out of the 38,000 and so clearly we do not have a service that is befitting to even take care of itself.â€
Also speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme The Big Issue, IMANI President, reiterated that “While we are interested in getting the police to go out and fight criminals we must ensure their welfare as wellâ€
The Police Service over the years has complained about lack logistics to fight crime following armed robbery attacks on mobile money vendors and forex Bureau institutions.
There have been robbery attacks in areas like Hallelujah, Gbetsile, Oyibi, Ashongman and other communities within the Greater Accra Region.
Two separate daylight robbery cases were recorded in Accra on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, one in North Kaneshie and the other one at Royal Motors in Accra.
In the case of Royal Motors, the robbers stormed the premises of the automobile company and made away with huge sums of money believed to be the company’s sales for the day.