By Dennis Bebane
Minister for the Interior, Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, has reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to strengthening the Police Service through sustained investments in logistics, mobility, communication systems, and infrastructure.
The Minister, who was speaking at the inauguration of the Upper West Regional Police Headquarters in Wa, said the facility represents a major boost to policing capacity and underscored the importance of collaboration between the Ghana Police Service and the public in safeguarding peace and security.
He urged officers to exercise sound stewardship of these resources, emphasizing accountability, efficiency, and value for money in service delivery.
Since the creation of the Upper West Region in 1983, the Regional Police Headquarters has operated from a premises built under the then Upper Region to serve as the Wa Police Station and Wa District Divisional Headquarters. For more than four decades, successive administrations worked tirelessly toward securing a befitting Regional Headquarters for the region. That dream took a major step forward on November 25, 2014, when the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Alhassan, performed the groundbreaking ceremony to commence the project.
The Interior Minister, Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, called on traditional authorities and community members to actively support the Police Service, stressing that security is a shared responsibility.
Upper West Regional Minister Charles Lwanga Puozuing appealed to the Interior Minister to deploy more security personnel to the region to fill the growing security gap.
Director General, Technical, COP Dr. Sayibu Pabi Gariba, who represented the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), said effective policing requires a stronger partnership and urged the Regional Commander to strengthen collaboration with key stakeholders such as youth groups, civil society organisations, traditional authorities, and religious bodies in the region to maintain the peace it is currently experiencing.
Upper West Regional Police Commander DCOP Francis Kwaku Yiribaare commended the government for the support and outlined some successes chalked up by the command within the year. He mentioned the arrest of a suspected serial killer who confessed to killing over 15 people in five years. Mr. Yiribaare also explained that the command’s operational resilience and decisive measures have reduced highway robberies this year compared to last year.
