Chief calls for collaboration between chiefs and police

Hohoe, Oct 06, GNA - Togbega Gabusu VI, the Paramount Chief of the Gbi Traditional Area, has appealed to the Police Administration to collaborate with the regional houses of chiefs and traditional councils to maintain peace. He said this when Deputy Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Bossman Ansong, the Volta Regional Police Commander, called on him as part of his tour of the Hohoe Police Division.

Togbega Gabusu said chieftaincy institutions were the first law enforcement agencies and there was the need for collaboration between chiefs and the police to reduce the high crime rate. Togbega Gabusu, who is also President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, urged colleague chiefs not to allow partisan politics to split their ranks as "this has a high propensity for insecurity and breach of the peace". He appealed to the Police Administration to develop the 60-acre plot given to it by the Hohoe Traditional Council some 40 years ago for the construction of new barracks to stem the encroachment on the land by private developers.

Togbega Gabusu asked if the attitude of the Police to the land was an indication that the land could be given to organizations ready to develop it. He commended Mr Ansong for being the first Regional Commander who had visited him, describing the gesture as a sign of fostering closer collaboration between the traditional area and the Police Administration.

Responding, Mr Ansong said the limited resources of the Police made it difficult for it to develop the land and expressed hope that things would change. He suggested that chiefs incorporated fund raising activities for the police during festivals to augment what it is given by the government. Mr Godknows Kobla, the Assistant Commissioner of Police who is the Hohoe Divisional Commander, appealed to the Hohoe District Assembly to solve the sanitation problem at the police barracks.