Correspondence from the Eastern Region
Read full articleResidents and natives of Adjena and several surrounding communities in the Eastern Region have renewed their call on the government to provide a police station for them.
The enclave has been without a police station for the past six years when the Ghana Police Service evacuated the property from which it operated when it deteriorated, making it uninhabitable for conducive police operations.
The police operated from the rented facility from 1965 until it evacuated leaving several adjoining towns without a police station.
As part of the efforts to address the problem, the community together with a popular businessman who runs a hospitality facility in the area began putting up a police station to house police operations in the area as part of his corporate social responsibilities to the community.
The project when completed is expected to serve Adjena and other communities including, Pese, Adumasa, Gyakiti, Anyaase, and other small villages, none of which has a police station.
Opanyin Kofi Owiredu, chairman of the Adjena Lands Management Board in an interview with GhanaWeb noted that in as much as strenuous efforts were being put in place to complete the project, government should equally lend a hand of support to address the situation.
He said, “Nananom is mobilising funds towards its completion…we have given them land, free land, and somebody has started so if the government can come in and also help, that I think will help.”
Describing the project as a white elephant, Mr. Onyaa Kojo, a native of Adjena who occasionally together with Mr. Richard Offei, Chairman of the Adjena Youth Association and Adjena Youth Association mobilises the youth to hold clean-up exercises to keep the ongoing project in shape said, though the businessman in question promised to complete the project by the end of 2021, he has not been able to do so due to financial constraints.
The Adjena Youth Association which out of its own free will, organises a clean-up exercise quarterly to keep the town in shape, has also installed street lights throughout the town, and even though it has the desire to complete the police station, the group is financially handicapped.
Mr. Onyaa appealed to the Asuogyaman District Assembly, stakeholders, and well-wishers from all the adjoining communities to contribute their quota towards the completion of the project. “All the communities should come together and then support the project to get to its completion,” he appealed.
Asked how the affected communities handled crime in the area, he said members had no option but to travel all the way to Akosombo to report cases at the Divisional and District Police Headquarters.
He added that civilians at times were asked to go bring the suspects to the station themselves, a situation that he described as “not possible.”
Krontihene of Adjena, Nana Ayimedu Brempong III said the provision of the station would ensure police, community partnership towards sustaining security in the area in a child-friendly environment.
“The facility is expected to provide a child-friendly space in line with the standard operating procedures of the United Nations,” said the Krontihene. “The community’s involvement in nipping crime in the bud will be enhanced through watchdog groups.”
He was also hopeful that the strategic location of the police station would assist prevent human trafficking, smuggling, and related activities on the Volta Lake, illegal lumbering, and, through regular patrols, give protection to other state properties in the enclave such as the Akosombo Dam.
Nana Ayimedu while expressing the appreciation of the community to the police for their efforts in protecting life and properties in the face of limited resources called on indigenes of Adjena home and abroad and the surrounding communities to join hands to ensure that the police station is completed within the shortest possible time
Akosombo Divisional Police Commander, Chief/Supt Isaac Obeng Dompreh in a previous interview with GhanaWeb on the situation urged the chiefs, Assembly members, and various stakeholders from the affected communities to collaborate with the Asuogyaman District Assembly and government to provide a befitting police station for the communities.
According to him, enforcing security in that part of the district from Akosombo without a permanent police post was difficult.
