We have done a lot to improve on the safety of Ghana – Prez Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has observed that his administration has done a lot to improve on the security situation in the country compared to some four years ago where the spate of armed robbery was on the increase.

He said Ghanaians are now enjoying a much safer society due to the huge investment his government has made in the security sector of the country.

“The security sector is one of the areas where this government has made much investment in. At the time we got into office, the Police Service had many challenges in terms of mobility, availability of transport to be able to respond to crime situations, tools for crime control among others.”

“So, one of the major things we did is to start retooling them not only the Ghana Armed Forces but the Police Service as well and other security institutions”, he said at a press briefing in Accra Tuesday.

Aside retooling the various security agencies, he said his government also focused on increasing the number of Police personnel in the service from 23,000 in 2012 to 32,000 in January 2016.

“That is a significant increase. The result of that is the reduction of crime rate – if you take a look at the statistics between 2013 and 2014 there had been a reduction in crime by 5,000 incidents and we are seeing a consistent reduction in terms of crime. And so we have done a lot to improve on the safety of this country”, he added.

He also mentioned the recent arrest of a Burkinabe arms dealer in Kumasi and the British fugitive as key achievements by the Police Service, attributing their success to the huge investment his administration has made into sector.