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The Department for International Development (DFID) has launched a two-week tactical training course for some officers of the Ghana Police Service. This training is to enable them with vital skills and public order management in time for the December elections. The course is being led by the UK and begun on the 14^th of May at the Police Headquarters in Accra. It is the first in a series of training programmes for 16,000 security officers drawn from the various security services. The training would be focused on election security and election laws with significant emphasis on intelligence gathering.

11 national communication base stations would be created across the country to enable nationwide radio communication for the police service. Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Country Director of DFID, Danny Graymore, observed that ‘Ghana has become a beacon of hope in the West Africa sub-region. Therefore Ghana must ensure that the police have the right skills and are positioned in the right place at the right time to make right decisions when the need arise while employing new tactics when new risks emerge’.

He urged that events should not be led to chance and plans need to be put in place in case of unforeseen circumstances and the police must remain bi-partisan and impartial to ensure peaceful elections.

John Kudalor, Director-General, Operations COP, expressed that the training could not have come at a better time since the police service was fervently preparing to ensure successful polls.  He added that although the police had chalked a lot of successes in its quest to maintain law and order to ensure that businesses thrive in a peaceful atmosphere, it needed such courses to enhance the professional posture of the service.

The Police chairman commended the UK government and the DFID for the immense support and commended their interest in building the capacity of the Ghana Police Service to attain a higher standard. He urged police personnel not to use force in managing public order, adding that the course would boost the capacity of the various Command and Control Centres (ops rooms) across the country.

So readers, what do you think of this initiative? What measures do you think that the Ghanaian government and its police force can do to ensure peaceful and fair elections? Your opinions are welcome.

By Claudia Andrea

The Ghana UK Based Achievement Awards (GUBA) in conjunction with the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) urgently needs your help to assist Dennis Gyamfi and Rose-Anne Ofori both of Ghanaian descent, who are in dire need of bone marrow donation.

Dennis Gyamfi, a 22 year old living in South London was sadly diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) in January 2010. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments but there is concern by consultants at St. Georges Hospital that he may need an unrelated bone marrow donor to save his life. Unfortunately, his younger siblings do not have matching bone marrow tissue to his.

8 year old Rose-Anne Ofori lives in Dagenham and was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in June 2011. Rose-Anne completed her treatments in November 2011 but suffered a relapse of the cancer in March 2012. Rose-Anne urgently needs to find a matching bone marrow donor

Dennis and Rose-Anne urgently need your help and support.

The CEO and founder of GUBA, Dentaa said; “We hope to find matching donors for Dennis and Rose-Anne and we URGENTLY need the support of the community to come along and register as donors. Although this is an appeal on behalf of Dennis and Rose-Anne, we want members of the general public to come along on the 2nd June at Choice FM studios to see if they could match anyone of any ethnicity awaiting a life -saving donor”

The Ghana UK Based Achievement Awards (GUBA) is leading this campaign by raising awareness and encouraging as many people as possible to help and support the initiative. This area is of great interest because GUBA believes that children should have access to healthcare and other necessary amenities. GUBA’s Children’s Foundation focuses on the wellbeing of children and young people which is why Dennis and Rose-Anne’s condition is of great concern to GUBA. We are working alongside the ACLT to help encourage people to sign up and donate bone marrow and blood to help Leukaemia patients

HOW YOU CAN HELP

An annual bone marrow and blood recruitment session is being held at the Choice FM Studios (Global Radio) in Leicester Square WC2H 7LA on Saturday the 2nd June. From 11am-4pm

Sadly at present, there are a large number of people awaiting matches, if we can find matching donors now and in the future through this appeal it will be a life- saving and changing experience for patients and their loved ones.

Please do all you can to help.

About Ghana UK Based Achievement Awards 2012 (GUBA)

The GUBA Awards is a non-profit awards ceremony celebrating the excellent achievements of Ghanaians living in Britain and acknowledging the valuable services of UK based organizations to Ghanaians in the UK or Ghana.  GUBA Awards is in its third year and aims at extending the awards to the wider African community in the UK.

Story by Claudia Andrea

For further information please contact:

George Ameyaw

george@gubaawards.co.uk

or

Beverly De-Gale, OBE co founder of ACLT,  beverley@aclt.org

Notes to editors

For further information visit the ACLT website at: http://www.aclt.org/index.php/aclt/t  You can find out more information about Leukaemia at http://www.lls.org/diseaseinformation/leukemia/