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The Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Brigadier-General Francis Vib-Zamziri has called on the state security agencies to co-operate with civil society to rekindle the spirit of volunteerism, so as to provide effective and adequate solution in emergency situations.

According to him, to enhance the potency of such collaborations, the state is prepared to support identifiable groups with this spirit, in order to promptly manage and reduce casualty levels whenever disasters strike.

Brig-General Vib-Zamziri disclosed this at Okwenya, near Akuse in the Eastern Region, during this year’s edition of Exercise Rescue Mission, a civil/security platform aimed at co-operation to achieve a common goal, which has been running over the past five years.

He noted that the security agencies, who are trained disciplinarians, could easily work closely with civil organizations and organized communities in their general areas of operation.

The NADMO boss commended Exercise Rescue Mission for the initiative and appealed for it to be replicated across the country, since disasters are not limited to particular areas.

Mock exercise
Since last year, Exercise Rescue Mission has been pursuing one Bishop John Brown, who launched a campaign for society to return to the values of old. He subsequently established the Sankofa Group, which claimed responsibility for the disappearance of people, mainly females.

The group was found on the historic 90-metre high Krobo Mountain, with the bishop personally bathing and shaving the women. The state security agencies managed to capture him, but the notorious supposed ‘man of God’ escaped while being escorted to the garrison headquarters. On the 30th of June, this year, he was spotted on the Accra plains, having disguised himself among herdsmen.

In the early hours of Wednesday the July 1, 2015, Exercise Rescue Mission assembled at the Tema Motorway Roundabout, with officers from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prison Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and Korean Residents Association in Ghana, to search, arrest and tame a renegade Bishop John Brown.

Two groups, made up of MOUNTAINEERS (mountain climbers) and SAFARI BRIGADE (a team with cross-country vehicles) pursued him.

The mountaineers used the Tema-Akosombo highway, while the safari brigade, comprising of only cross-country vehicles took the Tema-Aflao transcontinental route, negotiated at Nyigbenya towards north and through the coastal savannah, interspersed with trees and dams to Osuwem, the traditional home of the people of Osudoku.

Leading the onslaught against the said bishop were men from the dreaded SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team and the RDF (Rapid Deployment Force), drawn from the Police Headquarters Operations.

The Sankofa group sprang a surprise as the convoy was about to cross the last of two irrigation canals just before Akuse, when intelligence report got to the team leader that the bridge was mined. Tactically, everybody disembarked, walked through the water and after ensuring that the place was safe before the convoy could cross to the Krobo Mountain, where the aggressor was also said to have established a stronghold.

Now joined by the mountaineers, the rescue mission team recaptured Bishop John Brown at the summit, as he climbed the cross, assuming to be saved by his Maker. With the speed of lightning, the renegade leader was whisked from the summit to the base and straight into the waiting Security Conveyance Van of the Ghana Prisons Service.

Some of the men waiting at the base of the mountain, made up of security persons and some locals asked that he should be given instant justice, while others wanted him to be sent to the nearest prison at Akuse.

This, however, generated into an argument, since according to the two sides, he is troublesome and must not be entertained. But none of them succeeded, as the SWAT team escorted the conveyance van to the headquarters of the security agencies for interrogation.

Present at the recreational function were the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Southern Command, Brig-General Sampson Adeti, Tema Port Security Manager, Lt-Col. Timothy Ba-taa-Banah, Mr. Kwamena Afedzi, a retired intelligence officer and the president of Korean Residents Association in Ghana, Hwaryun Na.

Personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service later enacted a motor-accident scene and used it to educate all present on what to do in such situations.  The occasion was rounded up with a wrestling competition between all the services gathered, with the Customs of GRA winning the day.