Ghana secures €50m loan to purchase equipment for Police Service

The government has secured a 50-million Euro loan facility to buy 500 vehicles, bullet-proof vests and 1,000 communication gadgets for the Ghana Police Service to enhance its security operations.

The facility, from BNP Paribas, a credit agency, which has already been approved by Parliament, will also be used to buy two patrol boats for the Marine Unit of the service.

The acquisition of the equipment forms part of a major government programme to enhance the capacity of the service and also boost the morale of the personnel.

The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, made this known at the annual West Africa Security Services Activities (WASSA) of the Ghana Police Service in Accra on Friday.

Expatiating on the facility in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Mahama said the first batch of the vehicles and other operational gadgets would start arriving in the country in April this year.

Mr Mahama said this year being an election one, the government believed that it was important to retool the police, an institution at the forefront of internal security, to position them to fulfil their mandate to the satisfaction of all Ghanaians.

As to why two boats were being purchased for the Marine Unit of the service, he said the world over marine security was part of the responsibility of the police.

He said the boats would be used to train personnel of the unit, while a stock of others would be secured to equip the personnel of the service to function effectively.

According to him, the Ghana Navy was for national defence purposes and had not been trained for pair-trawling and other illegal activities which usually fell under the purview of coast guards.

Mr Mahama said all the security agencies had agreed for that responsibility to be given to the Marine Unit of the Ghana Police Service, hence the decision to bring in the initial two boats for training, while a new fleet would be purchased for operational purposes on Ghana’s coastal and marine waters.

He pledged the government’s commitment to provide the logistical needs of the security agencies, particularly the police, to ensure that they executed their duties efficiently and cited the inauguration of the refurbished Police Forensic and Crime Laboratory as testimony of that commitment.

Source: Daily Graphic