The president has described as unacceptable the recent spate of armed robbery activities in the country.
Addressing the 61st Independence Day celebration, of the West African country, the president said he is under every obligation to maintain the peace of the country and will not compromise on that.
“I will work to ensure that citizens are able to go about their daily duties in the confidence that they are safe. I want to make this clear: no miscreant will have the space to terrorize citizens and generate a sense of insecurity in our country,” the president promised.
Last week Tuesday, armed robbers in Rambo-style attack invaded the offices of Royal Motors and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.
At least two persons were killed in separate armed robbery attacks in Tema and Obuasi last week.
In the Tema incident, a cashier with Delta Agro had gone to the bank to withdraw an amount of ¢200,000 ostensibly to pay workers of the soap manufacturing company.
He was trailed by the robbers from the bank, accosted at the precincts of his company, shot, in the head, with the robbers bolting with the money.
The same day in Obuasi, a woman who was on her way home in the evening was trailed by robbers who later stabbed her. She died shortly after.
There have been similar attacks in Oyibi, Kasoa and its environs creating a state of fear and insecurity in the country.
But the president said these attacks are unacceptable. Sixty one years after breaking the shackles of colonialism, the president reiterated, the country needs a peaceful and a more secured citizen.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in a warm handshake with his Nigerian counterpart
At the Anniversary which had the president of Nigeria, Mahamudu Buhari also attending, the president said the police have a primary responsibility to protect the citizenry but in exceptional cases the military must assist.
“The government is doing, and will do whatever it takes to enable the police discharge their duties effectively. We are providing the means for them to modernize their equipment and learn modern methods of policing, and the numbers will be rapidly increased to match our growing population, and sophistication and audacity of the criminals,” he said.
Corruption
The president also condemned the state of corruption in the country which continues to hold back the country’s development.
Having appointed a new Special Prosecutor in Martin Amidu, the president said there will soon be prosecutions of past and present public officers in the coming days.
Ghana Beyond Aid
Speaking to the theme of the celebration which Ghana Beyond Aid, the president bemoaned Ghana’s state of dependency on developed countries 61 years after independence.
He was particularly saddened that many of the developed countries were once in the same league with Ghana and wondered why the West African country will now be subservient to them.
“…On this our sixty-first anniversary of our independence, it is important to remind ourselves that, around the time of our independence, we had peers such as Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. Our per capita incomes were very similar at around four hundred and fifty United States dollars ($450) in 1960, and our economies were dependent on the production of primary commodities. Today, these countries, once our peers, have significantly transformed themselves into industrialised economies,” he pointed out.
The president was convinced Ghana had underachieved but promised to change the story.