General News of Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Ghana Police to be equipped with body cameras – George Andah

George Andah, Deputy Communications Minister play videoGeorge Andah, Deputy Communications Minister

The Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah has reiterated government’s efforts and commitment in the fight against corruption by putting in measures that will reduce and eliminate the canker forever.

Speaking at a forum organised by KRIF Foundation in partnership with the Australian High Commission on corruption, the Deputy Communications Minister said the Ghana Police Service will soon be equipped with body cameras as that would reduce the rate at which they take bribes from citizens.

According to him, the body cameras on the police officers will record every conversation they have with citizens in their line of duty which will then be transmitted to the head office where everything would be monitored therefore making it impossible for bribes to be taken by them.

The Ghana Police Service is infamous for taking tokens at the roadside notwithstanding serious backlash from the public for being the worst culprit in bribery and corruption. Most Ghanaians have lost their trust in the security service as they believe the police have lost their core values.

At a roundtable discussion on the theme “Building a Culture and Framework to combat corruption in the public service” at the Australian High Commission on Tuesday, December 5, Mr. Andah said the Akufo-Addo-led government spearheaded by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is doing everything possible to formalise the economy through digitalisation of programmes to help reduce corruption in the country as people wouldn’t now result in middlemen or 'goro' boys for their works done.

The current government in formalizing the economy to help speed up processes has launched several programmes and among these are the National Identification card called GhanaCard, the National Digital Addressing System, DVLA going paperless and the Paperless Port.

In addition, the Deputy Communications Minister indicated that as the country is experiencing a digital transformation, every metropolis in the country will soon have surveillance cameras.