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With just eight months in office, the Minister of the Interior under the Mills administration, Cletus Avorka, has begun pleading for clemency from civil society organizations in the country. Apparently referring to the recent demonstration organized by the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a social political group in Accra, the Minister begged for time, adding, �The pressure is too much.� He was quick to extend the olive branch to other political parties to joint the government with ideas toward addressing the socio-economic challenges confronting the nation, stressing, �Extreme partisan politics ended after the transition of power from the erstwhile government to the current one; now we must come together and help develop the nation. �Why are you intimidating us like that? Don�t make Ghanaians become fed-up with politicians,� he yelled. While referring to those who took part in the AFAG demonstration as people who did not have anything doing in Accra, Mr. Avorka said issues such as premix fuel shortage and the prevailing harsh economic condition highlighted by the demonstrators amounted to hypocrisy, since those problems were in existence before the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took office. Addressing a durbar of personnel of the various security agencies under the Interior Ministry at the Volta Regional Police Headquarters in Ho on Friday, as part of his familiarization tour of the region, the Minister warned that government would not tolerate personnel who would want to be disloyal to its cause, adding, �The era of foot-dragging is over�. He called for collaborative efforts among the various security agencies to weed-out the bad nuts, some of whom supplied state arms and ammunition to criminals for booty, and eventually drag the name of the whole ministry in the mud. The minister appealed to the Regional and District Security Councils to be proactive in adopting strategies to fight crime within their jurisdictions, noting that every area had its peculiar security problems that required familiarity to tackle. He commended the police for their recent approach in dealing with crime in the country, but was quick to deny allegations in sections of media that he applauded the shoot-to-kill tactics being adopted by the police to fight crime in recent times. Mr. Avorka bemoaned the deplorable state of the Regional Fire Service office block, the Regional Police Headquarters block, which was started several years ago but yet to be completed, and the general accommodation problem facing most of the personnel in the region. He however hinted that government was engaging some private developers to help provide accommodation for the various security agencies in the country. Ms Elizabeth Adjei, the Director of the Ghana Immigration Service, urged the personnel to be professional and desist from acts that were likely to compromise efficiency and water-down their past achievements. The Volta Regional Police Commander, ASP David Ampah-Benin said due to day and night patrols by the police, the crime rate had reduced drastically in the region, but expressed concern that about 80 percent of personnel were putting up in rented premises, due to inadequate accommodation. The Regional Head of Fire Service, Eric Tei-Mensah regretted that a project started in 1988 to provide accommodation for the staff was still at a standstill, while the fire tender was also broken down, thus the resort to the use of water tankers to fight fires. As part of the tour, the minister had earlier visited Sogakope and Aflao, where similar durbars were held.