06 Dec 2021

Tonota cluster policing, which became dormant due to the outbreak of COVID-19, was recently revived.

Speaking during the cluster policing revival and Gender Based Violence (GBV) event, Tonota Police Station Commander Superintendent Oteng Ngada said the purpose of the cluster policing was to fight crime using community policing.

Supt. Ngada said cluster policing was vital, adding that the police could not manage to fight crime without the assistance of other stakeholders, like the community.

He said they also wanted to train all cluster members on handling issues relating to GBV, who in-turn would teach the community.

He lamented the numerous cases of defilement, murder, assault, child abandonment, rape and others, which he said needed approached with caution.

Supt. Ngada commended the cluster members for rendering their services for the past two years, without being paid.

Chairperson of Anti-Corruption Crime, Mr Talks Maleka said crime was an enemy of the country’s economy and the community and therefore urged the community to be informants/whistle blowers to reduce crime.

He encouraged parents to invest in their children’s education as it was an asset that nobody could take away from them, adding that the Children’s Act of 2009, Cap: 18 states that ‘Education is the right of a child and denying a child education, is punishable by law.

Children’s Regulation of 2015 states that “Parents have a duty to take care of every child even those that were adopted,” he said.

Mr Maleka observed that from January to September this year, 17 cases of defilement were recorded.

He said parents should restrict their children from taking cellphones and laptops to school, as they used them to watch pornography.

Commenting on the presentations, participants said men were wary to report GBV cases as police ridiculed them. They also blamed women who go to bars and entertainment centres, expecting men to pay their way and buy them drinks, for increasing GBV cases. BOPA