News:
Albert Kan Dapaah
November 3, 2021
Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah said the installation of CCTV camera’s in 432 police stations is expected to be completed by December this year.
Responding to the Member of Parliament for Wa West Peter Lanchene Toobu’s question on the state of the CCTV camera installation project across the country, he said the project is ongoing and currently implementation of the second phase is underway; stating that though this stage commenced in January of last year and was initially scheduled to be completed in 18 months, the completion date was rescheduled for December 2021 “due to logistical challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
“Currently, the police have some 900 police stations in total operation across the country and the phase two project is providing CCTV coverage for all 432 Regional, District and Divisional police stations out of the 900.
This is to enable monitoring of these installation and the remaining stations would be covered in subsequent phase of the project, roll out is currently ongoing and all 432 stations would be completed before the close of year”, he stated.
According to the Minister, to date, installation works of about 6, 500 cameras have been completed, with a little over 4,000 cameras powered and online, mainly in Accra, Kumasi and other regional capitals which has aided them achieve many success in detecting many infractions and criminal activities, including helping them resolve recent violent crimes such as armed robbery and kidnappings.
He disclosed that the actual project segmented into phases started in 2012 when the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Communications and Huawei Technology Co Ltd signed a contract in 2012 for the establishment of the first phase of the integrated National Security Communications enhancement project (Alpha project Phase 1)
This was to ensure installation of network of CCTV cameras and cellular technologies to enhance operational efficiencies of the security and intelligence agencies of the country; and that phase delivered about eight hundred (800) CCTG in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and some critical border areas like Aflao, Elubo and Paga.
It also delivered a National Command Center and other Operations centers for emergency response and command control for Law enforcement, security and intelligence, and Emergency Response Agencies
Other critical national installation and some major towns across the county were also considered and indicated that the project has been largely successful.
GOG through the Ministry of National Security Huawei Technology and China Machinery Engineering Corporation in December 2018 signed a contract for the implementation of the second phase of the project to further enhance the capabilities of the system, by installing ten thousand more cameras (10,000) and extending its cellular capabilities to every district across the country.
The Minister said in line with this vision, the Vice President H. E. Dr. Bawumia in February 2018 announced plans by government to fix CCT cameras in all police stations across the country, a plan that is integral to the roll out of the phases of the project.
He noted that compared to other countries like London with 73.31 cameras per 1000 citizens, Beijing with 55.03, New Delhi with 33.73 cameras per 1000 citizens, Ghana’s less than one camera for every 1000 citizens is unimpressive, “and the nation needs to make the relevant investments in the sector to enhance our security”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com