The Director of Operations of the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, ACP Kwesi Fori has stated categorically that the Police will keep on turning away drivers who attempt to enter Accra for no apparent reason.
According to him, this action is to ensure Ghanaians regard the President’s directive that restricts movement in the capital, Accra.
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In an interview on the Happy Morning Show on Happy98.9FM he said, “We are trying to control the flow of traffic into the city and prevent people not exempted from the lockdown from coming to town with flimsy excuses. This exercise is to help prevent the possible further spread on the COVID-19.”
On his authority, the exercise is going well but with the exception of some recalcitrant Ghanaians who always try to outsmart the police. “Sometimes we check commercial vehicles and there are only 3 essential workers in a car with over 10 people. After interviewing such people we find the excuses of some of these passengers quite flimsy. In such a situation we turn the bus around and provide the essential workers with other vehicles to continue their journey with.”
He noted that some people were recently arrested and sent to court because they come to town just to record videos of supposed police violence. “They were with cameras ready to film anything and were arrested. We are trying to prevent such and any others from coming to town and that is why we are strict at our checkpoints,” he said.
When asked by host, Samuel Eshun why there are road diversions on roads now, ACP Kwesi Fori noted that such measures have been put in place because people want to abuse the system. And that is why controlled arrangements have been put in place now. He disclosed, ”The road diversions are to connect road users to where we’ve set up checkpoints so that when u evade one check point u don’t evade the other.”
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He went on to advise drivers to also cease allowing people not exempted from the lockdown into their cars if they want to work and also pleaded with Ghanaians to stay home to avoid the spread of COVID-19 and live safe.
He reiterated, “Anything threating to fight against our operational goals, we will fight against it first. We plead with the public to listen to the education being spread by the media and respect these directives. If they don’t, then the police will deal with them.”
By: Joel Sanco
