President Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the country’s security services have been retooled and re-equipped substantially under this administration.
Delivering his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) for his 2nd term on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, the President said, “Indeed, the first four (4) units of four (4) storey blocks of sixteen (16) flats under the Barracks Regeneration Project have been commissioned, and the remaining part of a forty (40) 2-bedroom self-contained accommodation units for the Six-Battalion of Infantry and AirBorne Force, in Tamale, have also been completed.
The President indicated that a number of pick-ups, SUVs, trucks, high occupancy buses, ambulances and Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) have been added to the inventory of the Armed Forces over the period, as well as the imminent completion of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Ezinlibo in the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
“And, in response to the creation of additional ranks within the Military, Government reviewed salaries and allowances for Ghana Armed Forces and Civilian Employees upwards effective 1st January, 2020”.
“Indeed, when I took office in January 2017, the Police Service had a total of four hundred and ninety-two (492) serviceable cars. Government has, since then, procured for the Police some seven hundred and thirty-five (735) additional vehicles, including fifteen (15) operational buses, a feat unprecedented in the history of the Service.
Three hundred and twenty (320) housing units are being constructed at National Police Training School to reduce the accommodation deficits of the Service”.
On his accord, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has also been equipped with a digital forensic lab with crime officers receiving monthly stipends for their investigations.
“The Criminal Investigations Department has been equipped with a digital forensics laboratory, and, for the first time in the history of the Department, crime officers are given a monthly allowance to support their investigations”, he disclosed.
By: Joel Sanco
