Wirenkyiren Amanfrom (E/R), May 15, GNA - The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Baba Jamal, has inaugurated a new police station at Wirenkyiren Amanfrom, near Kyebi. The building, which used to be offices for the cocoa rehabilitation project, was rehabilitated by the Wirenkyiren Amanfrom Development Association (WADA).

It has a charge office, CID office, armoury, exhibition room, station officer's room, a conference room, cells for female, male and juvenile inmates with water closet facilities. The association also provided living quarters for policemen who would be posted to the station. After inspecting the project Mr Baba Jamal expressed his appreciation to the chiefs and people of Wirenkyiren Amanfrom for providing the police service with such a high standard edifice. He appealed to the youth in the area to desist from taking the law into their hands to destroy state property including the police station.

The East Akim Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Simon Peter Asilfi, advised the people to support police personnel who would be posted to the station to enable them give off their best. The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, congratulated the people for taking the initiative to provide the facility.

He said government alone could not provide the people with all their requirements and therefore it was important for them to initiative more self-help projects.

He assured the people that he would ensure that they are given their due share of the national cake and said if their request is beyond him and the municipal assembly, he would lead them to the Regional Minister for the necessary support. The Acting Inspector General of Police, Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, said the history of the police in Africa and Ghana in particular had not made it possible for people to appreciate the need to support the police.

She therefore expressed her appreciation for WADA in providing such an excellent facility for the police. Mrs Mills-Robertson advised the people to support the police personnel who would be posted to the area with information. She advised the police personnel who would be posted to the area to always remember that they were sent to the station to serve the people and not to lord it over them.

The Deputy Eastern Regional Commander of Police, Mr David Ampah-Benin, said crime in rural communities is becoming sophisticated hence the need for police stations in those areas. He said before the establishment of the police station, crimes committed at Wirenkyiren-Amanfrom had to be reported at Kyebi Police Station, a distance of three kilometers at a cost to the fellow who had been wronged.

The chief of Wirenkyiren Amanfrom, Barima Ofosuhene Peprah IV, offered an abandoned bungalow to the police for rehabilitation to serve as the residential accommodation for the officer who would be in-charge of the police station.

He appealed to the Police Administration to provide the station with a means of transport to enhance movement of the personnel to be able to effectively combat crime in the 30 villages in the area. The Nkosuohene of the area, Nana Asiaa Beyeeman I, a patron of WADA, said recent armed robberies, violent conflicts and the fact that the main Accra/Kumasi road had been diverted from the area make the area isolated and vulnerable to criminals.

She said it was based on those conditions that the chiefs and people of Wirenkyiren-Amanfrom led by WADA and with the support of the Ghana Police Service decided to establish the police station. Nana Beyeeman called on the people to continue to work together to help develop the town so that its citizens outside would always feel proud and be prepared to come home.