Operation Covid-19:  Grumbling in Police Service over withdrawal of feeding cash

There is growing agitation among the police personnel deployed for Operation Covid-19 over the replacement of their daily cash ration with food.

The Police Service has deployed 2,500 men and women to the streets and quarantine centers for the operation.

From Monday 30th March 2020 when the operation to enforce the partial lockdown in four police regions, namely, Accra, Tema, Central and Ashanti, it was programmed that each personnel would receive GH¢100 cash a day, which some of the divisions have already partly disbursed.

This was, however, reviewed by the third day, Wednesday 1st April 2020, upon assessment where a few impediments were detected hence the replacement of the cash ration with solid food.

The obstacles included the inability of personnel to find wholesome food to buy at their respective duty points for which the option serves a better purpose.

With the unavailability of food to buy, it becomes common for the personnel to vacate duty points and search for food to buy.

Another is the fact that the cash would not be enough for all the personnel engaged in the Operation Covid-19.

The police administration, therefore, contracted LUNCH CITY to deliver packed food for the personnel at the duty points.

This, however, did not go down well with some of them, who preferred the cash ration to the packed food, and are finding faults with the quality of the latter.

Across the board, it was argued that a 50/50 ration of cash and food respectively would have sufficed.

The Director of Police Public Relations, Superintendent Shiella Abeyie-Buckman, when contacted, confirmed that the police administration had replaced the cash ration with solid hot meals after a number of considerations.

According to the police spokesperson, the Central Cook House at the Police Training Academy would have served the purpose of providing the hot meals for the operational personnel, but it came with its challenges, as staff of the facility have also been deployed for urgent national duty.

She went on that with the new arrangements the personnel are provided hot meals for breakfast, lunch and supper, which has averted the tendency of absentia from the duty points.

Superintendent Abeyie-Buckman continued that apart from the Operation Covid-19, other duties such as Operation Calm Life, Operation Vanguard are ongoing, thereby stretching the service to its full limits of its human resource.

She went on that like all educational institutions succumbing to the Coronavirus pandemic, the recruits at the Police Training schools in Accra, Koforidua, Winneba, Ho, Kumasi and Pwalugu were sent home, except the squads ready to pass out, which occasion took place on Friday 28th of March 2020.

 

By John Bediako / www.thechronicle/com.gh

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