Sunyani (B/A), June 19, GNA - Mr. Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, has proposed the establishment of a National Security Service fund to address challenges that face security services. He made the call when he interacted with officers and men of the Brong-Ahafo Secretariat of the Ghana National Fire Service in Sunyani. Mr. Nyamekye-Marfo noted that security agencies in the country faced a number of challenges ranging from lack of office and residential accommodation, logistics, vehicles and stationery, which he said hampered their operations.

He said even though the government had done a lot such problems continued to exist and that if the fund became operational the security agencies could access it to enable them to work effectively. The Regional Minister deplored acts of indiscipline such as alcoholism during working hours and indecent dressing among some security personnel.

Mr. Nyamekye-Marfo said the government was worried about the current phenomenon of frequent market fires, which he attributed to illegal electricity connections.

He urged the GNFS to intensify public education on the need for fire extinguishers in offices and households. ACFO Kwaku Manu Afful, Regional Fire Officer, complained about inadequate and old fire tenders, lack of residential and inadequate office accommodation facing the service. "It would interest you to know that with the exception of the regional fire officer who lives in one of these Old Russian bungalows, none of the officers in the region is properly housed," Mr. Afful stressed.

He added: "There are always problems between personnel and their landlords. They are ejection notices, rent increment or payment of utility bills."

The Regional Fire Officer said GNFS had opened offices in 26 municipal/districts out of the 24 in the region and appealed to the government to consider building fire stations in all the districts of the region.

"Brong-Ahafo has a total land area of 39,573 km square and the service has only 12 fire fighting appliances out of which six are unserviceable. "This implies that each of the six serviceable tenders covers an approximate area of 6,592.83 km square," he noted and expressed concern about the overstretching the use of the fire engines. Mr. Afful disclosed that between January and May the Service had attended to 173 distress calls as compared to 316 for the same period in the previous year in the region. 19 June 09