300 Polic Personnel To Provide Security At Kwahu Easter

Three hundred police personnel are to be deployed at vantage points throughout the Kwahu area in the Eastern Region during the Easter festivities.

As part of the security arrangement, motorcycles have been banned in the area during the four-day festivities, starting from Good Friday to Monday.

The Nkawkaw Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Fred A. Asare, who disclosed this in an interview, said those security measures had to be taken to make the festivities crime-free.

Giving details of the arrangements, he said about 200 of the police personnel would be deployed in the towns on the scarp, such as Obomeng, the nerve centre of the festivities, Mpraeso, Atibie, Nkwatia, Pepease, Tafo, Aduamoa and Nkawkaw, the gateway to the area.

He said it had become necessary to deploy such a large number of police personnel because all sorts of crime, such as stealing, physical assault and rape, occurred at such festivities.

With regard to the ban on motorcycles, he said last year most riders of unregistered scooters snatched mobile phones from holiday makers, after which they sped off.

“We are leaving no stone unturned and so police personnel will patrol most of the streets, while others will be positioned permanently at vantage points to keep robbers and troublemakers at bay,” Mr Asare stated.

Meanwhile, the Kwahu South District Assembly has also taken steps to make the festivities enjoyable.

According to the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Joseph Omari, 30 foreign paragliders from The Netherlands, France, Togo, Britain, Canada and the United States would, as usual, fly with Ghanaian passengers from the Odwen Anoma Mountain at Atibie and land at Nkawkaw.

Tents, he said, would be erected in front of the Mpraeso Senior High School to cater for holiday makers, who due to some reasons, would not be able to get accommodation in the hotels in the area, while the football fields of some of the schools would be used as vehicle parking lots guarded by police personnel.

He, however, advised visitors not familiar with the road network in the mountainous area to contact the Ghana Private Road Transport Union at Nkawkaw for assistance.

A health team, with an ambulance from the Atibie Government Hospital and the Nursing Training College, has also indicated it will be on stand-by for any eventuality.

According to Mr Omari, an HIV/AIDS counselling and testing centre would be set up at Mpraeso to assist the public and advised the youth to be careful in whatever they did, so that their happiness would not be turned into sorrow during and after the festivities.