Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the aftermath of the DNA test that confirmed the death of the Takoradi girls that had been presumed missing, he posited that “the security services must up their game and they must reassure us because the citizens, I daresay, are losing confidence in the security agencies because it seems they are not up to their game. They, therefore, need to assure and reassure us.”

In view of that reassurance, he also called on the government to provide the security agencies with the appropriate equipment to enable them to stay on top of their job demands.

Police inadequacy

He said it was rather unfortunate that the police in the early stages of the investigations into the disappearance of the girls could not discover the gruesome act that had happened until later.

While not claiming to know how their investigations were done, he said, “but I think they were not up to their game in this instance.”

His suggestion was that the response time of the security agencies needed improvement adding quickly that the citizenry also ought to be security-conscious.

“We should not refuse to give them up and report them to the police when we see anything suspicious going on,” he advised.

On the proper tooling of the security agencies, he recounted that there had been instances where people had gone to report cases to the police and they had to transport the police to effect arrest and other things that should have been done independently by the police.

“The police at certain times do not have the gadgets that will enable them to communicate effectively with patrol teams to alert them to crimes that might be going on so that they can respond quickly,” saying those were some of the challenges that needed to be addressed ahead of the 2020 polls.

Security towards 2020 polls

Reverend Barrigah, in providing some thoughts on maintaining the peace and security of the nation, called on politicians to keep their language temperate and be decorous.

“They must conduct an issue-based campaign rather than a campaign laced with insults, false allegations, lies and vain promises. Sometimes, these things come around to affect us,” he pointed out.

The citizenry, he said, must also be alert to any manipulation by a politician to get their votes by buying them.

“We must also look at the manifestos that will be presented by the politicians and look at them very carefully to see those promises that are reasonable and can be achieved within the period of mandate of the politician if they should be given the nod,” he added.

He urged Ghanaians not to be taken in by the grandiose promises that were made by politicians.

Rather, he said, “we must be sure that the things that are being said can be done within the economic constraints that we as a nation are facing.”

“We don’t have all the money in the world and if people are making promises that we know our economic power cannot contain, we should look at them twice and then make the right decision.”