618 Police stations without vehicles

Accra, Oct. 6, GNA - Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Minister of The Interior, on Wednesday said the Interior Ministry was exploring ways to address the transportation needs of 618 police stations nation-wide, which did not have vehicles.

The Minister who was answering a question in Parliament said an agreement that would enable the Ministry to purchase a number of vehicles and other facilities for the Police had been submitted to the House for approval.

Mr Kwakye Addo, NDC-Afram Plains South, had sought to find out from the Minister when the Tease Police Station, which catered for more than two hundred communities in his constituency would be provided with vehicles.

The Minister said Tease was one of the Police sSations without vehicles.

He explained that the Ministry would be procuring a number of vehicles for the service using the Exim Bank of India facility. Mr Dominic Nitiwul, NPP-Bimbilla, suggested that consideration should be given to getting speed boats for the Police Station in Tease since the area was hard to reach and surrounded by water. Replying, the Minister said it was on the drawing board to get the Police more facilities including surveillance aircraft.

In a related question, the Minister said over the past two years, the Police Service, in conjunction with the Ghana Armed Forces, had "endeavoured to curb the high rate of armed robbery in the country". "Most parts of the country are thus relatively safe from the activities of armed robbers. It is not correct that armed robbery is surfacing in the rural areas," Mr Owusu Agyeman said.

Mr Stephen Amanor Kwao, NDC-Upper Manya Krobo, had asked about measures the Ministry had put in place to curb "the current spate of armed robbery surfacing in the rural areas".

The Minister countered and said armed robbery was not on the increase in rural areas.

He, however, said: "Action is being taken to ensure that we maintain the current low level of armed robbery and criminal activities in the country."