President John Dramani Mahama has announced a GHS1 billion budget allocation to retool the country’s security agencies.
According to him, this decision follows a recent Security Council meeting, where he raised concerns about the operational challenges facing the services, particularly the Fire Service and the Ghana Police Service.
“I have managed to squeeze the hand of the Minister of Finance to his back, and we will get a budget of a billion cedis for retooling of your various services,” President Mahama disclosed.
He described the situation of the Fire Service as urgent, noting that the lack of adequate fire tenders is hampering their operations.
“The Fire Service needs equipment urgently. I empathise with them when they get insulted by people when they do not get to fire incidents early. The issue is that they do not have the equipment. Some of the equipment was bought 10 years ago. There has not been a retooling,” the President explained.
Addressing the agency on Friday, June 20, he urged the public to be patient with the service, saying firefighters are working under very difficult circumstances, highlighting the risks faced by the Police Service due to insufficient resources.
“The police have to confront armed robbers every day, and you do not expect them to do it in light-skinned vehicles,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senior officers from all 11 agencies under the Ministry of the Interior have donated GHS1 million to the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, popularly known as the Mahama Cares Fund, aimed at supporting individuals battling chronic diseases.
The contributing agencies include the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana Prisons Service, National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), National Identification Authority (NIA), Gaming Commission, National Peace Council, Refugee Board, and the Small Arms Commission.
