As part of measures to bolster the law enforcement capabilities of the Ghana Police Service and enhance their capacity, Newmont’s Development Foundation in Ahafo funded the construction of a Police Training School in Kenyasi No. 1, one of the company’s host communities in the Ahafo Region.
The Police training school, the first and only one in the Ahafo and Bono Regions, was established through the collaborative efforts of Nana Osei Kofi Abiri, Omanhene of Kenyasi No. 1, Newmont’s Development Foundation in Ahafo, the former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ernest Owusu Poku, and community leaders in Kenyase No. 1.
Newmont, through its development foundation, has so far invested about GHc 5.8M to establish the training school which boasts of a modern administration block, a single-story classroom block, a dais, a 200-bed-capacity dormitory, a kitchen and a mess, changing rooms and lavatories for non-teaching staff, among others.
The school’s curriculum covers essential subjects like criminal law, service instructions, criminal investigation, criminal procedure, law of evidence, human rights and HIV, child-friendly policing, acts, Legal Instruments (L.I.) and Constitutional Instruments (C.1.76), community policing, client care, professional police ethics, and report writing. Field activities include drills, weapon training, driving, riding, swimming, public order management, radio communication, and physical training.
The Regional Training School has so far trained and graduated two batches of recruits, under the command of Chief Supt. Mr. Samuel Omari-Anim. The first batch consisted of three hundred and ninety-five (395) male recruits, made up of seven (7) under cadets and three hundred and eighty-eight (388) general recruits.
On 21st February 2024, the second batch of one hundred and eighty-seven (187) male recruits, made up of one hundred and fifty-two (152) general recruits and thirty-five (35) under cadets passed out at a spectacular ceremony in Kenyase No.1. The ceremony culminated months of rigorous training, resilience, determination and what the recruits described as “a land of no walking, only running”. This brings the total number of trainees to five hundred and eighty-two (582) recruits.
The training school has also trained one thousand two hundred and twenty-two (1,222) community protection assistants in batches and trained private security personnel for external organizations.
Alumni have excelled in various specialized units nationwide, contributing significantly to maintaining law and order across the nation. The Regional Police Training School aims to expand its facilities and play a pivotal role in shaping competent, ethical, and community-oriented law enforcement officers for the future. Aside from its core employees, the training school also employs about 20 civilian employees from Kenyase No. 1.
Newmont’s Foundation in Ahafo was established in May 2008 following two years of extensive but fruitful engagement with traditional leaders and the Ahafo Social Responsibility Forum (ASRF), as a mechanism to manage its sustainable community development commitment to its ten host communities. The forum is made up of representatives of traditional authorities, local government, Newmont, youth groups and other interest groups in the communities.
Newmont contributes US$1 per ounce of gold sold and 1 per cent of its net profit to the foundation annually. The fund has so far accrued over 178.9 million Ghana Cedis, out of which 190 infrastructural projects have been completed and handed over to the communities, in addition to other non-infrastructural projects and educational benefits to the people in Ahafo.
