Managing directors (MDs) of all banks have been ordered by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to immediately start using armoured bullion vans for cash movement operations. The apex bank has added that failure to comply with this directive in all cash-related activities across the country shall attract severe sanctions.
The BoG was assuring the public and business community that the latest directive was to ensure the “security of cash-in-transit activities and to underscore its commitment to protect the lives of both security personnel and bank staff involved in all cash movements.
The Chronicle finds the directive by the Central Bank very proactive, even though some industry players think the order came a little late. The directive, issued after a police escort was killed at the premises of Star Oil filling station at Ablekuma, where monies were to be collected, accelerates the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) and the Association of Bullion Van Owners of Ghana (ABOG) collaboration to deploy armoured vehicles for Cash in Transit (CIT) activities, starting from July 1.
The bullion van owners are claiming they have about 150 registered bullion vans in the country, and that most banks have signed contracts with them to deploy the vehicles. If that is the case, then The Chronicle is of the opinion that nothing stops the banks from respecting the directive from the apex bank immediately.
To us, at The Chronicle, the banks have a responsibility to immediately use bullion vans to cart monies across the country, and, for that matter, the directive must be treated with the urgency that it deserves to save lives.
We would also call on the Ghana Police Service to deploy all the necessary safety gears for their personnel when they embark on such assignments. We need the police officers to provide top-notch security, and as such, all the necessary measures and logistics must be adopted to safeguard them.
The Chronicle recalls with pain that from 2019 to 2023, seven police officers escorting “bullion vans” have been attacked by armed robbers. Four police officers have died in the process. On December 3, 2019, a police officer, Sergeant Emmanuel Chikudoh, died after an ADB bullion van he was escorting to Essam in the Western Region was attacked by some armed men.
On Friday, May 8, 2020, armed robbers attacked a bullion van at Mmaampehia, near Techiman, in the Bono East Region, where Lance Corporal Yussif Abubakar, the policeman on board was wounded. Again, on March 1, 2021, a bullion van was robbed on the Spintex Road at Baatsona, near the Danpong Hospital, by four armed men. The escorting police officer, identified as Evans Baafi of the Sakumono Police Station, was assaulted by the robbers.
On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, Lance Corporal Martin Babah, guarding a Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) bullion van from Dunkwa in the Central Region to Fomena, was killed on the spot by 10 armed robbers on the Adansi Fomena road in the Ashanti Region.
Then on Thursday, June 17, 2021, armed robbers attacked a bullion van at Gomoa Okyereko on the Kasoa-Winneba road, in the Central Region, barely a week after a similar incident resulted in two deaths at James Town.
Police Constable Emmanuel Osei was shot in the head on Monday, June 14, 2021, after eight robbers attacked a MonTran bullion van at Adedenkpo, a suburb of James Town, in Accra. A hawker was also killed by the armed men during the attack.
The Chronicle does not want to bore readers with more examples about how we have recklessly contributed to the deaths of promising police officers, and how their careers have been abruptly ended, but to stress that from the above records, the narrative is getting scarier, and for which reason all stakeholders must support the central bank in ensuring the safety of police officers who offer escort services in the country.
