Report Suspected Criminals To Police—Bono Regional Minister

The Bono Regional Minister, Evelyn Ama Kumi-Richardson says the influx of illegal migrants is a major contributor to the recent spate of armed robberies, kidnappings, prostitution and other social vices in parts of the country.

She has therefore called on landlords and community members not to hesitate in reporting people suspected of engaging in unlawful activities to the appropriate security agents for the necessary action to be taken.

Mrs Kumi-Richardson was addressing Assembly members, heads of departments and some public and civil servants at Dormaa Ahenkro to kick-start her four-day familiarisation tour of all the 12 municipalities and districts in the region.

During the tour, the minister would be interacting with staff of decentralized institutions, chiefs and community members and inspect as well as inaugurate some development projects.

The minister tasked the Dormaa Central Municipal Security Committee to step up their efforts at controlling cross-border crimes, illegal lumbering and galamsey, which are major drawbacks to the county's afforestation drive.

Mrs. Kumi-Richardson said it is the duty of every citizen to protect the environment, which includes the forest cover, and called on chain-saw operators do desist from their activities.

Touching on other issues, the Regional Minister commended the Municipal Assembly for making judicious use of its share of the District Assemblies Common Fund and other financial allocations.

She was particularly excited about how the assembly has utilised those funds to execute numerous development projects in the area.

The minister, who was accompanied by her deputy, Siaka Stevens and other dignitaries, later inspected progress of work on a multi-purpose youth development centre, which is expected to be completed in August this year and a 1000-ton capacity warehouse, which is 85% complete.

At Nkrankwanta in the Dormaa West district, the minister inaugurated the newly built residential accommodation for the district coordinator and 12 other senior staff of the assembly.

Earlier at a durbar held in her honour, Mrs Kumi-Richardson assured the chief and people of Nkrankwanta that the deplorable nature of the roads in the area would receive the needed attention by government in due course.

On recent power cuts being experienced in the area, the minister explained that the situation is as result of the replacement of old power cables.

She gave the assurance that the situation would return to normalcy soon.

The chief of the area, Baffour Agyei Achiaw Akombi II, called for the construction of permanent office accommodation for the Ghana Education Service as well as expansion of facilities at Nkrankwanta SHS and the hospital in the town.

He further requested for a district fire station to effectively respond to fire outbreaks and an ambulance for the district.

The minister and her entourage ended day one of the tour at Wamfie where she inspected some projects and met with community members.