Urgent Issue of the Increasing Crime Rate in Ghana

Last year, thousands of Ghanaians graduated from our universities, tertiary institutions and secondary schools and these people have flooded the job market, causing its choke. The unemployment rate has risen steadily over the years leaving many individuals jobless and destitute. What must these individuals do to earn a living? As the old adage goes ‘Idle hands are the devil’s hands. ’ They resort to less humane ways of earning a living: prostitution, drug trafficking, armed robbery, and carjacking. The crime rate cannot be dealt with until this stagnancy in the job market is cleared out. First of all, Ghanaians need to create an environment for entrepreneurship which will create jobs for themselves and for others.

Additionally, a rehabilitation program needs to be created for released felons. Currently, when they are released from prison all that they have to go back to is what landed them in prison in the first place. Instead, a course needs to be made to reintegrate and make them a functioning part of society. These measures will serve to decrease the crime rate in Ghana exponentially. As you are well aware, Ghana as a member of ECOWAS is obliged to permit the free movement of citizens from all member states. This might similarly contribute to our increasing crime rate. Under the doctrines of ECOWAS, there has been a rush of unrestricted immigration of other nationals and in customary Ghanaian fashion, only subpar background checks are administered. The problem with this is among the legitimate travelers, we invite crooks, degenerates and charlatans who come to kill, steal and destroy. The only way we can remedy this is to tighten our security.

While the police’s blasé attitude toward their work might’ve been enough for the generally peaceful Ghanaian natives, it is definitely not enough to keep incoming thieves and killers from tearing apart our motherland. Border security must be tightened to ensure that whoever is coming to Ghana is of unquestionable character. To deal with those already in the country, resources must be allocated to improve the correspondence between police stations so that crime in Ghana can be treated as a unified whole rather than isolated events in different constituencies. Monetary rewards should also be offered to citizens that report issues that help break the criminal activities of crooks. It’s unfortunate however that our issues cannot be completely resolved unless government intervenes- there needs to be the provision of dependable vehicles for routine patrolling assignment to actually catch the criminals.

With this, the wave of crime that has come with increased immigration can be effectively combatted. Despite the apparent ignorance about the exponential increase in Ghana’s crime rate, the effects are discernable. Look for the words thief and death on the internet and you will be shocked at what you find. Ghana, our great nation has been reduced to headlines as ridiculous as ‘MAN SUSPECTED TO BE USED-SANITARY-PAD THIEF BEATEN TO PULP”. Yes, you did read it right- he was suspected to have stolen used sanitary pads. This is the consequence of an ineffective justice system. Ghanaians whose issues have not been absolved pounce on petty thief’s and rain down hell for sins attributed to other people. Our justice system has become so flawed that Ghanaians must rely on themselves to exact retribution for wrongdoings committed. And where are our lawmakers in all of this? Gorging themselves on bribes and dirty money! The trust of the Ghanaian people cannot be regained until the justice system starts to work as it should to the cycle of crime in Ghana. No matter how far we bury our heads in the ground, there will be a reckoning. And when that reckoning comes, everyone will scramble to shift and dissemble blame. I however, would like to bring these actions to your attention before that upheaval occurs. The rate at which crime is increasing in our nation needs to be dealt with immediate action. If my measures are taken into action, I think that there will be a discernable fall in the rate of crime in Ghana.