Amanfrom residents live in fear of robbery attacks but Ga South Assembly asks them to contribute cement for police station
Residents of Kasoa Amanfrom in the Ga South municipality are living on the edge because of increasing armed robbery attacks on some of them over the last three weeks.
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Although media spotlight had been on the community in the last few days following harrowing tales of attacks on residents, the armed robbers returned to the community under cover of darkness yesterday to rob and inflict pain on women and even attempted to rape some of them.
Residents of neighbourhoods, including Galilee, American Farm and Peace Town, the targets of the robbery operation which was first reported on July 29, this year, are losing sleep over another attack, especially when the robbers returned just a day after the Accra Regional Commander, DCOP Tetteh Yuhono, had paid a working visit to the community.
A near-rape victim told Joy News that it took a warning shot from a military officer in the area to ward off the gang of robbers who had attempted to rape her after she had screamed for help.
“He removed everything on me. I began to scream. I screamed and screamed and when the warning shot was fired by the military man, they all escaped. He touched me but did not penetrate,” one of the victims said.
Demands on the community
A proposal from the Ga South Municipal Assembly that residents contribute cement, pay a special levy and equip the police with a motorbike to tackle the situation is raising eyebrows.
As part of the demand on the residents, each household is expected to contribute three cement bags towards the construction of a police station for the area.
The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Jerry Akwei Thompson, told Joy News that landlords in the area must each contribute three bags of cement.
However,sources at the Police Administration have distanced the hierachy of the police from what has been described as outrageous.
He said the chiefs of Top Town had provided land and the residents association had started putting up a police post which would eventually be developed into a police station.
He stated that the assembly was not asking for too much by asking residents to contribute towards their safety.
According to Mr Thompson, although the assembly would support the police with motorbikes to make transportation easy on the rather bumpy roads, it was important that the residents also supported them with motorbikes.
He said the assembly had been criticised for not doing anything about the situation, adding that while residents demanded their rights, they must also be responsible by paying their property rates.
He said ensuring the security of the area was not the responsibility of only a group of people but the entire community.
A former assembly member for the Ngleshie Amanfrom Electoral Area, Mr Zakaria Mohammed Ali, said GH¢5 contribution by residents would motivate the men in the area who had volunteered as neighbourhood watch committee members.
Demand is wrong
According to him, the assembly did not receive enough from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to cater for the pressing need for security in the municipality.
The Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and the Interior, Major Derrick Oduro (retd), said it was the responsibility of the government and the police to protect the residents.
“There is supposed to be protection for the residents day and night. Police presence must be felt,” he said.
He described the demands of the MCE as wrong.
“Who is he to say that the people must provide those items before security or protection will be given them? Where is it written in the budget that community contribution is supposed to be made before security is provided?” he asked, adding, “It is the duty of the government to provide security for the people.”
Dangerous precedent
A criminologist, Prof. Ken Agyeman Attafuah, described the demands as a dangerous situation.
He observed that the current trend where communities were asked to build their police stations or police posts was a dangerous precedent.
He said in the present scheme of things, communities that could not afford to build such infrastructure would be under-served.
Meanwhile, Citi FM reports that the Accra Regional Police Command on Tuesday set up some tents at Amanfrom Top Town and American Farm areas following reports of massive robbery attacks in the area in the last few weeks.
