Police Must Inform Ghanaians of Abductions and Terrorist Threats – Colonel Aboakye

General News of Monday, June 10, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-06-10

Ghana's police service has been criticized for "leaving Ghanaians in the dark", despite a spate of warnings about terrorist threats and kidnappings.

Festus Aboagye, a retired colonel, expressed his disappointment at the police posture, which suggests that "society owes us no explanation as a society".

He described the posture as "culture of silence" in an interview with Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Monday.

While the number of kidnappings has increased in the south of the country, at its northernmost border with Burkina Faso, concern is about terrorist threats.

The former soldier of the Council on Foreign Relations-Ghana wants the police to regularly inform Ghanaians of these new fears for security.

For example, he would like the police to provide information on the two Burkinabé gunmen arrested in the week. One of them was picked up in a church.

Police have not linked the arrests to the escalation of terrorism in Burkina Faso. But the retired colonel explained, more information help to dispel panic and perceptions of insecurity.

Police can do more in the other emerging crime – kidnapping – he said.

In addition to kidnapping three Ghanaian girls, four foreigners were kidnapped in three separate incidents over the last four months, an unusual crime in Ghana, police said.

The police have strangers singled out as responsible for the crime. But the conflict badyst said that he was not impressed by the police's efforts to raise awareness among Ghanaians.

No coordinated public information campaign in schools or in the media has been observed, lamented Festus Aboagye.

On April 2, 2019, the Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, presented her latest briefing to the police on crime.

She revealed that a Nigerian gang had confessed to at least 11 armed robberies, a spree that included the rape of their victims before flying off with over two million cedis.

His briefing on three kidnapped Takoradi girls would cause him trouble after being badured that the "girls are safe" had been misinformed.

There has not been a briefing with the police since.