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General News of Wednesday, 4 September 2019

Source: mynewsgh.com

I’ll make all Ghanaian students go through police, military training – Odike

Akwasi Addai Odike, founder and leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Akwasi Addai Odike, founder and leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP)

The founder and leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Akwasi Addai Odike has said he would include security consciousness courses into Ghana’s educational curriculum should he get the opportunity to become president of the country, MyNewsGh.com.

He says for the country to be to bring day-to-day criminal activities to minimal levels, all of its citizens must have some sort of police or military training so that they take charge of their own safety and security.

His comments come on the back of the directive given by the Acting Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh that all policemen men on duty to carry arms, following the gruesome murder of two unarmed MMTD officers at Kasoa by an armed civilian.

Late Sergeant Michael Dzamasi and Lance Corporal Awal Mohammed were shot and killed by a suspected assailant, Eric Duah at Kasoa in the Central region last Wednesday.

The Kaneshie District court presided over by Mrs Roesemond Douduwa Agyire has since remanded the main suspect and his six accomplices into police and BNI custody.

While Eric Kojo Duah, the main suspect, Amissah Isaac and Zakariah Ibrahim were remanded into BNI custody, the rest Mensah Isaac, Oblitey Commey, Victor Yire and Fatau Ahmed have been detained at the police cells at Osu. They have been charged with four counts: murder, conspiracy to commit murder and abatement.

The case has been adjourned to September 26, 2019.

Mr Odike, however, maintains that, giving firearms to all policemen on duty is not the remedy to police-civilian clashes, but that all citizens must be conscientized to take charge of their own security so that they would be able to defend themselves in case of an attack.

He said the best way to enforce his proposal is to include security training in the basic school curriculum, at least from the senior high school level, so that each graduate walks about with the mentality of being a police or military officer themselves.

The businessman observed that the practice has worked in advanced countries like Germany and Israel and it is time for it to be reciprocated in Ghana. He spoke in a radio discussion on Kumasi-based Angel Fm monitored by MyNewsGh.com.