The Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, has said the country’s security agencies have managed to reduce the spate of armed robberies in the country.
Last month, there were several robbery cases mostly in the national capital, creating uneasiness among Ghanaians.
The Vice President however said initiatives taken by government to address the security threat, are yielding positive results.
“With the recent increase in armed robberies that happened, you saw government moved very quickly to try to address the situation with an enhanced Operation ‘Calm Life’. Ultimately, we are seeing a reduction especially in the urban areas of that type of armed robbery so from the broader point of view government is doing something about it” he noted.
Speaking at a youth entrepreneurial forum in Accra, Dr. Bawumia further stated that government will ensure that businesses are protected from robbery attacks.
The first quarter of the year has seen a number of armed robbery incidents, some of which have been carried out in forex bureaus.
A few weeks ago, two persons were reported to have sustained gunshot wounds from suspected robbers who appeared to be in a fleeing crime scene.
In that same week, some armed men stormed Royal Motors, an automobile company in Accra, making away with the company’s sales, while a Lebanese national of Delta Agro, a plastics manufacturing firm in Tema, was also shot dead by robbers and his Ghc200, 000 stolen after he had withdrawn the money from a bank in the Tema Heavy Industrial area to pay workers.
There have also been several complaints from Ghanaians in other parts of the country who say armed robbers have been terrorizing them without any help from the police.
These series of attacks triggered calls from the Minority and some Ghanaians for the IGP to be sacked for failing to protect the citizenry.
The Police administration responded to these calls with a major reshuffle which saw the Director General of Police Operations, George Akuffo Dampare, being reassigned to head the Research and Planning Department, while nine others were also reassigned to take up various positions across the country.
Government also revamped the already existing ‘Operation Calm Life’ initiative comprising police officers and military personnel, aimed at combating criminal activities across the country.
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