Residents of the Upper West Region are agitating over the inability or seeming unwillingness of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to commission the newly constructed Upper West Regional Police Headquarters.
There have been growing public concerns over the continued delay in commissioning the newly constructed Upper West Regional Police Headquarters, a project completed in the final months of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
Local residents and civil society groups in the Upper West Region have expressed frustration over the delay, arguing that the new facility is much needed to improve security in the region.
The delay is being interpreted by political actors in the region as a deliberate orchestration of the current government, in efforts not to lend or give credit to the erstwhile NPP government for the bold initiative of investing in such a massive state-of-the-art facility, aimed at ameliorating the poor security situation in the Region.
There have been attempts by the current NDC government to downplay the issue, with the Deputy Interior Minister Hon. Akwasi Mensah claiming that some work still needs to be done on the project before it can become operational.
But former officials from the NPP administration have described the delay as politically motivated, with former Interior Minister Hon. Ambrose Dery stating that “all necessary certifications were in place” prior to the change in government.
The residents are therefore calling on the leadership of the region to call government’s attention to the issue, to allow for urgent action to be taken, in order to improve and enhance security in the region which has become a huge challenge in recent times.
They cite an increase in armed robbery cases and other nefarious activities as challenges that has bedeviled the region for some time now and requires urgent attention to deal with.
Indeed, some police personnel in the Region are also at a loss, as to why the facility has not been commissioned to enable them to move in, as the current office premises is nothing to write home about.
As it stands now, police operations in the region will continue from the old headquarters, which officials acknowledge is overstretched and under-resourced, and does not befit the status of a Regional Police Headquarters or Command.
