Dr. Freda Prempeh, the Member of Parliament for Tano North Constituency in the Ahafo Region has called on the Police to flush out illegal miners and their unscrupulous activities, gaining ground in the Constituency.
She said despite the nationwide ban, illegal mining activities were still going on at Campso, a farming community in the Constituency, as well as Terchire, a mining town within Newmont Ahafo North Mine’s enclave.
Dr. Prempeh, also a Minister of State in-charge of Works and Housing made the call when she paid familiarization visits to the Tano North Municipal and Tano North Divisional Police Commands at Duayaw-Nkwanta.
The visits afforded the MP the opportunity to interact with the Police and identified and tackled the teething challenges confronting the Service and also acquainted herself with the security situation in the Municipality.
Dr Prempeh expressed regret that some people had taken advantage of community mining licenses, and were engaging in illegal mining as well, and therefore entreated the Police to clamp down on illegal mining operators, before the unexpected would happen in the area.
She commended the Police personnel in the area for their endurance and sacrifice in serving the nation, and asked the Commands to build cordial civilian-Police relationship so that civilians would be comfortable to provide the Police with information about criminal activities in the Municipality.
Chief Superintendent John Kusorgbor, the Tano North Divisional Police Commander said the Command had taken steps to mount checkpoints to check and control criminal activities in the Municipality.
He expressed concern about the rise in petty theft and burglary in the area, saying though the Police had intensified night patrols, there was the need for shop and store owners to engage the services of ‘watchmen’ to complement the efforts of the police in crime combat.
C/Supt. Kusorgbor said modern policing remained a shared and collective responsibility and advised households, landlords as well as shop and store operators who could afford security cameras to mount some to track criminals.
Supt. Isaac Kojo Forson, the Tano North Municipal Police Commander enumerated several challenges including deplorable condition of the Police barracks, inadequate accommodation for personnel and vehicles for patrols and appealed for public support, saying the Service also required more personnel for day and night patrols.
