The Wa Police, which for the past years depended on the Jirapa Police Station to house female suspects now have a female cell.

The station’s armoury had been converted and rehabilitated for use as a female cell to help reduce the burden of transporting female suspects to and from Jirapa to Wa to attend court.

The carpentry shop had also been reconstructed and converted into a District Criminal Investigation Department Office and a Station Office to ease congestion whilst the office of the Highway Patrol Unit had been enhanced.

Mr. Kalibi Abu Ali, Director of Queens Valley Hotel, who provided the facilities for the police at the cost of GHC11,000, said the gesture was part of his corporate service and responsibility to the Police and people in the Wa Municipality.

At a handing-over ceremony on Thursday, Mr. Ali said the Wa Municipal Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Henry Amankwaatia told him about the lack of a female cell and the inadequate facilities situation at the station.

He said he was touched by the burden and challenges faced by the police in sending female suspects to Jirapa at a cost to the government and relatives of the suspects who had to risk their lives and travel to Jirapa to see their relatives in cell.

Mr. Ali appealed to the police to package their challenges properly and make them known to the public to attract public-spirited individuals and benevolent organisations support.

The philanthropist, who hailed from Wa, expressed disappointment that the Wa Regional Prisons has no any facility to house female convicts.

He said females who are convicted in court are sent to the Tamale Prisons to serve their sentences at a cost to government and relatives and appealed to government and other organisations to consider providing such a facility for the Wa Prisons.

The Upper West Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Kwesi Mensah Duku, who received the keys to the facilities thanked Mr. Ali for his patriotism and selfless service to the police and his people.

He explained that the work of the police was a collective responsibility and that they alone could not ensure or secure the communities from crime and other disturbances and appealed to the people to provide information on the activities of criminals to the police to maintain peace, law and order in the region.

The Regional Commander acknowledged that in recent times crime caused by females had increased and so there was the need for the provision of facilities for females in all police stations across the country.

ACP Duku said government was constrained in the provisions of adequate facilities to the police and encouraged the public to support the Police Service at the community, district, regional and national levels to enhance its work.