Kojo Bonsu sends old guards for military training

The Chronicle can reveal that the Metro Guards of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) are not happy about a compulsory one-month Military training designed to upgrade their skills.

About 112 guards of the Assembly were expected to report at 4BN Military barracks in Kumasi last Sunday (October 12) to begin one month compulsory military training at the instance of the Mayor, Mr. Kojo Bonsu, to address the spate of extortion of drivers and traders.

This paper has learnt that the first batch of 30 City Guards have already been provided with two T-shirts plus a mosquito net and a tall list of items, including 2 trousers, canvas, bucket, sponge, towel, soap, toilet roll, black boot and a new uniform, among others, to be purchased by the trainees.

Some of the city guards, who spoke to The Chronicle, under condition of anonymity, for fear of victimization by the Mayor, described the move by the Mayor as very strange and an attempt to replace experienced and old city guards with his favourites.

“In as much as we welcome any form of in-service training or on the job-training, the way and manner the mayor is going about this thing is very questionable”, they said.

According to them, some of them have been in the job for over 28 years, yet Mr. Kojo Bonsu since assumption of office, has ordered the regularization of their engagement by undergoing screening by BNI and CID, as well as fresh medical examination, which they did before their training for recruitment at the police barracks.

A number of the City guards also complained about their low remuneration of GH¢120.00 as monthly salary, though an improvement on the GH¢105.00 given to them two years ago, and wondered how they were going to manage to purchase all those items from their meagre salary.

Meanwhile, sources close to the Justice and Security Sub-committee Committee of the Assembly have revealed that the committee is not aware of the of the move to train metro guards and that the Assembly has not approved the training, neither does the Assembly know about any of the expenses that could go into the whole process and where the money is going to come from.

The source described the process as questionable, since it was a unilateral decision by the mayor to send the city guards to military training without consulting the committee and the general Assembly.

The source indicated that the Justice and Security Committee was going to ask the KMA Security Coordinator and the Mayor to explain to the general assembly the motive behind the said military training, since this is a sensitive matter.