The Government has informed Ghanaians that they should expect friendly visits from police and military personnel in their communities as part of intelligence-led efforts to fight the rising spate of armed robberies in the country.

“Don’t panic or be nervous when you see police and military personnel in your communities; they mean no harm,” Minister of Information Abdul-Hamid Mustapha told journalists on Thursday, 1 March.

He made the announcement after Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia held an emergency meeting with the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service and Ghana Armed Forces to strategise against robberies.

The Minister also said banks and financial institutions have been urged to install CCTVs that will be linked to the national command centre as part of surveillance processes.

The new measures follow a series of robbery attacks in Accra and other parts of the country.

On Wednesday, 28 February 2018, for instance, a Lebanese businessman was shot and killed by robbers after he had withdrawn GHS200,000 from the bank. The robbers bolted with the money.

A day before that some armed robbers stormed Royal Motors in Accra in broad day light and made away with some GHS8000. It followed the arrest of nine suspected robbers in connection with raids at several forex bureaus at Spintex in Accra. Also on Thursday, robbers attacked a man at Industrial Area and made way with GHS9,000.

Meanwhile, former President Jerry John Rawlings has asked the state security to confront the armed robbery incidents with utmost confidence and professionalism. In a tweet on Thursday, Mr Rawlings said: “Confront this menace with utmost confidence and professionalism while ensuring that no one, high or low takes advantage of our vulnerabilities.”

“Let us hope the recent robbery and killings is downright plain robbery and not a politically motivated action from within or without, calculated to undermine those in charge of the security machinery in order to pave the way for certain parochial ambitions.”