President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday said the large investments in equipping the country’s security services was inspired by the recognition that peace and stability were critical for national development.

He said the security services had been retooled and re-equipped substantially under his administration to ensure development.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament, President Akufo-Addo said the first four units of four-storey blocks of 16 flats under the Barracks Regeneration Project had been commissioned, and the remaining part of a 40, 2-bedroom self-contained accommodation units for the Six-Battalion of Infantry and AirBorne Force, in Tamale, had also been completed.

He said Pick-ups, SUVs, trucks, high occupancy buses, ambulances and Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) had also been added to the inventory of the Armed Forces over the period, as well as the imminent completion of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Ezinlibo in the Jomoro District of the Western Region.

“And, in response to the creation of additional ranks within the Military, Government reviewed salaries and allowances for the Ghana Armed Forces and Civilian Employees upwards, effective 1st January, 2020.”

The President said the capacity of the Ghana National Fire Service had been raised with the procurement of five sets of extrication equipment and two hydraulic platforms.

“When I took office in January 2017, the Police Service had a total of 492 serviceable cars.

Government has, since then, procured for the police some 735 additional vehicles, including 15 operational buses, a feat unprecedented in the history of the Service.”

He added that 320 housing units were being constructed at the National Police Training School to reduce the accommodation deficits of the Service while modern communication equipment and fragmentation jackets had been procured and delivered to the Service to protect officers and ensure effective policing.

Also, hangers being constructed at the Police Depot, Accra, for four helicopters already procured for the Service, were 99 per cent complete.

“An air-wing unit has been established by the Ghana Police Service, and six pilots have been trained and passed out to man the wing. A new K-9 Unit has been established with 30 dogs and 30 police officers.”

President Akufo-Addo said the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had been equipped with a digital forensics laboratory and, for the first time in the history of the Department, crime officers were given a monthly allowance to support their investigations.

“We are retooling the CID Forensic Science lab. The CID building has also now become disability- friendly and there is continuous training of CID officers,” he said.

The President said 84 apartment units being constructed at Odorkor, in Accra, for the Immigration Service, were 98 per cent complete, to help reduce the accommodation challenges faced by officers and men of the Immigration Service.

He added that the government was also constructing an 800 inmate capacity remand prison at Nsawam, which was 60 per cent complete, to reduce further overcrowding in the prisons, as remand prisoners would now be kept separately from the convict population.