Government, through the Ministry of National Security, has started installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional Capital.
It could be recalled that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in 2019, announced that the Government was in the process of procuring 8,000 CCTV cameras to be deployed across the country as part of measures to boost the crime-fighting operations of the police service.
Checks on the streets of Bolgatanga by A1Radioonline.com show that there are signs of the installation of the said CCTV cameras at some traffic intersection.
It was observed that the installation had begun at Estates, Bukere and Zongo- near the MTN regional office.
In a random interview with some residents of Bolgatanga, they expressed hope that the CCTV cameras, when fully functional, will not only help fight criminal activities but also various traffic offences which they said have become a matter of concern in the regional capital.
Meanwhile, an Information Technology Specialist, Albert Naa, has questioned the commitment of relevant authorities to implement the necessary steps to make the installed CCTV cameras serve their useful purposes.
“I noticed some CCTV cameras being installed at vantage areas in town and that is a very good thing. It will go a very long way to help the security officers fight some of these crimes or be able to reduce it. But the problem we have always had as a people is that we copy blindly. We have seen that the United States or Germany or France have installed CCTV cameras at vantage places in their countries, so, we too we get a contractor and the person installs it; then we all go to sleep. If we leave these things [CCTV cameras] to be out there and we do not implement the necessary steps to make it useful to us, it’s just going to be a white elephant enjoying the beautiful sunshine in our region and not giving us any benefits.” He told A1 Radio.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz| |Ghana
