ARREST 'EM...To stop impunity in Bawku - Minister (LEAD STORY)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover

The Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, has directed personnel of the various security agencies to effect the prompt arrest of all troublemakers in the volatile areas of Bawku.
Addressing a durbar of officers and men of the various security agencies under his ministry at Bolgatanga on Monday, Mr Avoka also appealed to the judges to deal expeditiously with suspected criminals who were arraigned before the courts to curb the culture of impunity and to serve as a deterrent to others.
According to him, the government was very much disappointed in the continuous violence in Bawku in particular and other parts of the country and said everything would be done to ensure that peace prevailed in the country to promote development.
The Interior Minister asked security personnel in the region to close their ranks and work as a team to bring peace to Bawku and minimise crime in the area.
“The situation in Bawku and other places such as Dagbon, is becoming an embarrassment to all of us. The country is using all the resources meant for development by the district assemblies to fund the operations of soldiers and policemen in these conflict areas.”
The meeting formed part of the minister’s three-day working visit to the region to interact with the personnel and learn at first-hand the challenges confronting them.
He said since the government assumed office, the country had begun recording some success in the fight against armed robbery and the drug menace and stressed that the recurrent conflicts in Bawku could not be allowed to draw back the progress made in improving security and enhancing development.
He advised the officers to find novel ways of dealing with the security challenges they faced in the region such as fuel smuggling, cultivation of narcotics such as “wee”, armed robbery and ethnic conflicts, and emphasised that promotion in the security services would depend on the output of personnel and not the number of years of service.
The Upper East Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bright Oduro, said in spite of the successes chalked up by the police in the fight against crime in the region, the recurrent violence in Bawku was a dent on their professional capabilities as a law enforcement agency.
He, however, gave the assurance that the police, together with other security agencies in the region, would do their very best to bring the perpetrators of violence to book.
ACP Oduro said Bawku should be treated as a special case if the police were to stop the carnage and lawlessness and appealed for strong 4x4 vehicles, preferably pick-ups, for patrols, as well as motorbikes to be able to access areas and paths that would ordinarily not be accessible by cars.
Additionally, he said, there was the need to increase allowance of the security personnel to motivate them, provide good quality tents and bullet proof vests to the security personnel, as well as provide street lights in the Bawku municipality.
The Regional Police Commander also appealed to the minister to build police barracks, saying it was only the Upper East Region that did not have a decent police barracks.
He said out of the 703 personnel in the region, only 202 were living in police barracks, 143 were without accommodation and 304 occupied rented quarters.
He said equally disheartening was the fact that four or five personnel were compelled to share one room.
Other heads of security agencies such as the Immigration Service, Fire Service, Prisons Service and CEPS also presented the challenges facing their institutions.
They mentioned the main challenge as the lack of accommodation for personnel and appealed to the minister to address the problem.