150 police personnel trained to help protect assets of mining companies

Personnel of the Ghana Police Service deployed to mining companies have been urged to execute their duties with professionalism in accordance with the code of ethics of the Service.

Christopher Opoku Nyarko, Chief Director of Analysis, Research, and Finance of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, advised them to avoid violating the fundamental human rights of community members in the mining areas they have been assigned to.

Nyarko made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at a training workshop the chamber organized for 150 police personnel at the Ghana Police Command and Staff College in Winneba.

According to him, the training, organized periodically, was part of a collaboration with the Police Service to help protect the assets of various mining companies.

Such training, Nyarko indicated, helps to improve the service delivery of personnel sent to the mining areas and the country.

“This is the reason we brought a team comprising the Chamber Legal Person, Madam Sheila Minkah Premo, and some operational officers from the mines led by the chairman of the Chamber Security Committee,” he said.

Edwin Asare from Goldfields Ghana Limited, Madam Theresa Abrema Obosu, Senior Administrative Officer, Training and Project of AngloGold Ashanti, and Martin Baah Awhireng, Security Manager of Perseus Mining Company Limited, were the facilitators.

They schooled the participants on the “Minerals and Mining Act, what the Public Security Officer needed to know, ethical considerations on mining, voluntary principles on security and human rights, and security threats in mining operations and response,” among others.

In their presentations, the external security personnel were urged to cooperate with the internal security for effective joint operations and to report any challenges to the authorities for redress.

DSP Moses Gyan Mpettey, Staff Officer Operations, on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, thanked the organizers of the training and assured them that the men will make good use of the knowledge and skills they had acquired to bring sanity to the various companies' areas of operation.