Rehabilitation of police stations will be expensive

Rehabilitation of police stations and barracks, some of them for the first time since 1916, will cost the state a fortune.

This was the assessment of journalists and organisers of a tour of police facilities in Accra.


NNOBOA Foundation, a non-governmental organisation committed to assisting the police, organised the tour for the media to gain first hand information about the conditions under which police live and work.


At the Kaneshie District Police Station barracks officers share single rooms with an average family of four.


The barracks were built for single policemen who were brought from Northern Nigeria at the establishment of the Gold Coast Police Service.


Mr Robert Azu, District Commanding Officer said because of the poor accommodation, the prospect for family life for young officers is bleak. "Some of them sleep on the bare floor with barely enough space to put their legs."

The 85-year-old block, which the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit uses as offices look more like a refuse dump.


The group also visited the Teshie Police station where conditions are equally deplorable.


Mrs Florence Sama Chuku, Executive Director of the Foundation, said that the organisation wants to identify areas of immediate concern so as to raise funds to assist the police service.


She said the target of the Foundation is 12 billion cedis out of which six billion cedis would go into buying vehicles with security equipment and communication, and a computerised network system for the service in all 110 districts.