Border Patrol Officers to Carry Arms

BORDER patrol officers of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) would be armed before the end of the year, the Comptroller-General of the Service, Kwame Asuah-Takyi, has assured.

Mr Asuah-Takyi disclosed this after inspecting the Saru, Sawla, Kabla, Tanglyiri Vouvu unapproved routes in the Savannah Region on Saturday.

The visit to border posts and unapproved routes forms part of a nine-day working tour currently being undertaken by Comptroller-General of Immigration to all GIS installations in the Northern, Savannah and Upper West Regions.

Accompanying the CGI were Chief Staff Officer, Chief Superintendent of Immigration (CSI) Lawrence Agyei Agyapong, Head of Protocol, Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI) Linda Asare-Mantey and the GIS Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Immigration (ASI) Gifty Amgborme.

The decision for personnel of the GIS to carry arms and ammunitions was announced by Mark Owen Woyongo, a former Interior Minister, in March 2016 at a ceremony in Accra where he handed over to his successor, Prosper Douglas Bani.

"As frontiers, it is only fair that the Immigration Service is empowered to carry arms and ammunitions" because "there is so much insecurity [and] we need to prepare for a bad day," Mr Woyongo noted.

In fulfilment of this, Mr Asuah-Takyi said, government had released funds for the purchase of arms for personnel at the borders and added that arms had been procured and were being shipped to Ghana.

The Officers, Mr Asuah-Takyi said, should be rest assured that they would be provided with arms before Christmas this year for their protection and border security intensification.

"Every challenge there should be solutions... ..as for the arms we have been complaining that government has not been supplying us with arms, its been done, it's gone through the process and its being shipped into the country for distribution," he told the personnel.

Admonishing his men to remain disciplined and not be tempted to misbehave when using the arms during patrols, the Comptroller-General said Government is supporting the GIS especially with the revamping of the Border Patrol Unit which has now been upgraded into a Border Patrol Department.

"The President through the sector Minister of Interior has assured the Service of improvement in the GIS, and I am optimistic that the President will deliver on his word just as he has already begun in other areas of developmental projects ongoing in the country. When the President says something he delivers," he stressed.

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