ICT TRAINING FOR SECURITY PERSONNEL

Published in the Daily Graphic on 12th Nov, 2009, pg 32

Story: Matilda Attram
THREE hundred and twenty-nine members of four security agencies in Ghana have benefited from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training.
The training, which involved the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Fire and Rescue Service, the Ghana Prisons Service and the Ghana Immigration Service, was organised by the Life Liberty Foundation in Accra to upgrade the skills of the security personnel in the operations of security services.
At the ceremony, the Founder and Executive Director of the Computer for Education and Development (CFED) and the guest speaker for the occasion, Dr Hillar Addo, indicated that the use of ICT took development to different stages and levels and Ghana needed to upgrade herself with knowledge and skills to enhance its development process.
He explained that the world had evolved into an age where technology, fuelled by information and powered by knowledge, drove development, including security.
“ICT to the security service can match and deal with crime and criminals wherever they emerge or are located globally, keep records, store and locate dockets and prosecute criminals promptly and locate innocent citizens on remand at prisons to be freed,” he stated.
Dr Addo said ICT empowered the mind and provided skills and opportunities for all to be creative and innovative, adding that “We cannot relegate ICT in the security sector and indeed in Ghana to tomorrow. No security service, sector, ministry or country can afford to be an island. The use of ICT will ensure effective interaction among us, which will enhance development”.
He encouraged the personnel to establish a website that could carry information for the public to access related global information .
A software instructor of the Life Liberty Foundation, Mr Sebastian Acolatse, disclosed that the four-month programme organised by the foundation had improved information processing, storage and sharing among participants, as well as the trust between officers and men.
“Through this programme, personnel are able facilitate information handling and record keeping in their prospective outfits. It has also motivated them to further their studies and assist others in the society,” he said.
In an address, the Chief Executive Officer of Life Foundation, Dr Kwesi Osei Bonsu, made it known that the organisation, though not assisted by the government, offered a free course in ICT for the four government security agencies in the country as part of its social responsibility.
He said the organisation had already trained more than 3,000 personnel, adding, “We can make Ghana better if we are able to contribute selflessly to help the government to solve some of its problems”.
He disclosed that his outfit would soon open a branch in the Northern Region.