Street crime creating ‘no-go’ areas for some residents of Tema West

A recent spate of daytime and late-night confrontations between local residents of Tema Community 16 and machete-wielding street thugs intent on stealing personal belongings of pedestrians including mobile phones, laptops, and other resaleable property, has led to the re-appraisal of security prevention measures in this once peaceful Tema West locality.

Says James Andoh, spokesperson for the community-based organization (CBO) Concerned Residents of Community 16, “Whilst this is not an entirely new phenomenon, it appears to be occurring with increasing frequency resulting in greater physical injury and mental stress for its victims and the community at large which is very worrying indeed.”

A candidate for the 2023 municipal assemblyman elections for the Lashibi Electoral Area and a CRoC16 executive member, Justice Tettey states, “It is vital that planning, sanitation, and other pollution sources as well as progressively worsening security issues are addressed without delay.

I believe that our municipal assembly chief executive recognizes that CBOs like ours are an extension of their own monitoring and evaluation capacity. We are ‘on-the-ground’ and well able to gauge the impact of declining standards of morality and behavior on the lives of residents of the community. As a former assemblyman for this area and an officer of CRoC16, I will be making it my priority to keep these issues at the forefront of the local authority agenda.”

(CRoC16) is working with the Ghana Police Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Tema West Municipal Assembly to form a Neighbourhood Watch organization designed to heighten awareness throughout the community of the potential danger to residents of slipping standards of behavior.

As part of its campaign to deter thieves from entering the community, signs have been erected on approach roads encouraging both victims and witnesses of criminal acts to report such events as they happen.

A CRoC16 delegation visited the Ghana Police Service where the Police Commander, Supt Anthony Danso, and his fellow officers were, “ready to partner with your organization to reduce lawlessness including street crime, noise pollution caused by churches and other organizations within the community.”

He also advised the establishment of a ‘security watch’ involving selected local youth in support of increased police patrols of the neighborhood which were likely to yield positive results.

On the evening of 15 November 2023 at approximately 9.15 pm, two local male residents were waiting to be served by a food vendor within the community when a motorcycle approached at high speed.

The pillion rider was armed with a cutlass with which he launched a merciless attack on the unsuspecting men stealing a back-pack containing a laptop computer from one of them and inflicting a serious head wound requiring immediate hospitalization as well as ongoing treatment on the other.

“Both physical and mental scars can have long-term ill effects on victims of such outrages,” says James Andoh. “These attacks must not be allowed to continue.”

Responding to a visit by a CRoC16 delegation to the Environmental Protection Agency, Accra East Director Mrs. Sally Biney pledged the agency’s wholehearted support to counter all aspects of pollution be it noise or sanitation reported to her office. At the meeting, she made it quite clear that any organization with the potential to have an adverse effect on the local environment is required, under Ghana law, to undergo an environmental impact assessment.

Concerned Residents of Community 16 hold a general meeting on the first Sunday of each month at 4.00 pm lasting for one hour. Says spokesperson James Andoh, “If you would like to learn how to protect your personal best interests along with those of your neighbors, please call or WhatsApp 053 624 3741 to join our platform and you will receive an immediate invitation to the meeting.”