SoNA 2021: We’re building 800-inmate-capacity Nsawam remand prison – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Akufo-Addo has said his government is “constructing an 800-inmate-capacity remand prison at Nsawam, which is 60% complete”.

“Its purpose is to reduce further overcrowding in prisons, as remand prisoners will now be kept separately from the convict population”, the President told Parliament on Tuesday, 9 March 2021, when he delivered his first State of the Nation Address for his second term of office.

He said the intervention is among the various measures being undertaken by his government to retool all the security agencies.

“Mr Speaker, our security services have been retooled and re-equipped substantially under this administration. Indeed, the first four (4) units of four (4) storey blocks of sixteen (16) flats under the Barracks Regeneration Project have been commissioned, and the remaining part of a forty (40) 2-bedroom self-contained accommodation units for the Six-Battalion of Infantry and AirBorne Force, in Tamale, have also been completed.

“Pick-ups, SUVs, trucks, high occupancy buses, ambulances and Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) have been added to the inventory of the Armed Forces over the period, as well as the imminent completion of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) at Ezinlibo in the Jomoro District of the Western Region. And, in response to the creation of additional ranks within the Military, Government reviewed salaries and allowances for Ghana Armed Forces and Civilian Employees upwards effective 1st January, 2020”, he said.

According to him, the capacity of the Ghana National Fire Service has been “raised with the procurement of five (5) sets of extrication equipment, and two (2) hydraulic platforms procured”.

Indeed, he noted, “when I took office in January 2017, the Police Service had a total of four hundred and ninety-two (492) serviceable cars. Government has, since then, procured for the Police some seven hundred and thirty-five (735) additional vehicles, including fifteen (15) operational buses, a feat unprecedented in the history of the Service”.

“Three hundred and twenty (320) housing units are being constructed at National Police Training School to reduce the accommodation deficits of the Service. Modern communication equipment, and fragmentation jackets have been procured and delivered to the Service to protect officers, and ensure effective policing.

“The Construction of Hangers at the Police Depot, Accra, for four (4) helicopters already procured for the Ghana Police Service, is ninety-nine per cent (99%) complete. An air-wing unit has been established by the Ghana Police Service, and six (6) pilots have been trained and passed out to man the wing.

“A new K-9 Unit has been established with thirty (30) dogs and thirty (30) police officers. The Criminal Investigations Department has been equipped with a digital forensics laboratory, and, for the first time in the history of the Department, crime officers are given a monthly allowance to support their investigations. We are retooling the CID Forensic Science lab; the CID building has also now become disability-friendly; and there is continuous training of CID officers”, he noted.

Also, he said: “84 apartment units being constructed at Odorkor, in Accra, for the Immigration Service, are ninety-eight per cent (98%) complete, and their completion will help reduce the accommodation challenges faced by officers and men of the Immigration Service”.

“Mr. Speaker, these large investments in equipping our security services is inspired by the recognition that the peace and stability of our nation are critical for our development, especially as we live in a difficult and, sometimes, dangerous world”, he added.