AFAG expresses concern about security issues in Ghana

Accra, Nov. 2, GNA - The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a political pressure group that advocates for transparency and accountability in government, on Tuesday expressed concern about some security issues in the country.

Mr James Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr, Spokesperson for the group, said at a press conference in Accra that the recent spate of armed robberies and other social crimes was alarming and must be stopped. "Today, Ghanaians cannot live without fear of being attacked or abused," he observed. He, therefore, called on the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service not to continue to paint a picture of an improvement in the country's security situation in the mist of death threats and armed robberies.

Quoting President Mills' proclamations on January 7, 2009, that "Ghanaians should not live in fear, and that armed robbery is going to be a thing of the past," Mr Bomfeh said it was important that any political party should not attribute the rise in crime rate to a particular government or regime.

Commenting on the latest alleged mass rape and armed robbery incident, where armed men were alleged to have used force on a father to have sex with his 14-year-old daughter, Mr Bomfeh urged the Ghana Police Service to confront the issue of crime and deal with it instead of issuing contradictory statements about the issue.

"We were pledged in the NDC manifesto that our security services will be well equipped so as to be able to combat crime and bring criminals under control; unfortunately the opposite is what we are witnessing," he said.

He said that the defensive nature of government in dealing with crime in the country could be attributed to its attitude when it was in opposition.

Mr Bomfeh further urged the general public to partner the security services to fight crime, explaining that fighting crime should not be the sole responsibility of the security services.