The Upper East Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Bongo, Albert Abongo, has taken up a radical stance to deal with the troubling wave of armed robbery attacks in the region.

The minister, who assumed office only two weeks ago, has asked residents to report anyone engaged in armed robbery to him for immediate arrest and prosecution.

“Let’s put our ears on the ground. If you know there is a criminal hiding somewhere, picking motorbikes, and you know, come and tell me. I will lead the police to arrest him. I will do that. I did in the time of the revolution. Arresting criminals? We did it. We were so brave. We did it. To combat that indiscipline in our society requires we ourselves confronting it,” Mr. Abongo charged.

He said this whilst addressing the Coalition of SADA Zone CSOs in Bolgatanga, the regional capital. The coalition met with to put forward some concerns about the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the state of security in the region.

It is perhaps the first time a call has gone to the people from the Office of the Regional Minister in the region to bring forward reports criminals certainly would find so distasteful.
Why public is protecting common threats

Robbery, mostly of motorcycles, occupies the topmost spot on the region’s crime chart. Refusal to expose criminals on the part of many has remained the bane of the fight against crime, particularly armed robbery, in the region.

Whilst the police station is the last place some residents will go to report lawbreakers for fear that their identities might be leaked out, exposing relatives on wanted list is also the last thing some will do to maintain family bonds.

“One of the reasons we do not want to report the miscreants among us is about our relationship with the people. Maybe I have a cousin who is involved in criminal activities. If it’s leaked that it’s Eddy who has gone to report, the family or the people around would feel that I have betrayed a family member or that I’m wicked. The second reason is that if you have a political ambition and you report, they will use it against you during campaign. They would tell you that you were the same person who reported us and they punished us. These are some of the reasons we fail to report certain crimes that are going on,” a resident, Edward Asakere, said.

Another resident, Maame Azure, explained: “You would report and regret later because some of the policemen take bribes and they would report you to the criminals at the end of the day. Because of that, we don’t want to put ourselves in trouble.”

Police not happy
The Upper East Regional Police Commander, DCOP Simon Yaw Afeku, has been full of praise for the few who assist the police with useful information on criminals but at the same time not happy that many have decided to watch and only complain when they fall victims.

“We live with these criminals in our houses. They are our husbands, they are our brothers, they are our sisters, they are our relations. We live with them; we know them. Please, don’t let us continue to encourage them to do the wrongs that they continue to do every day. Let us let them out in support of police work so that they can face the law. That would discourage others from engaging in those [criminal] activities,” DCOP Afeku once appealed during a news conference.
The Regional Commander told Starr News recently a general disinterest in the police anticrime hotline 0382022401 was encouraging criminals to continue to strike from the blind side of the security agencies.

“Sometimes, it’s very appalling. We continue putting out our hotlines. It’s reachable day and night throughout the seven days of the week. But the majority of people are yet to live up to this. It could have added to the reduction of crime where the criminal knows that the police would be able to get to the scene quickly. By and large, most people don’t take interest in the police until there is a problem,” the regional commander remarked in a recent interview with Starr News.