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The Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka has urged security personnel in Bawku to remain neutral and to avoid getting involved in chieftaincy affairs or aligning themselves to any ethnic group. He said they were expected to exhibit vigilance, professionalism and discipline in their work and loyalty to the Government so that their duties would be geared towards championing the Government�s effort at bringing peace to the Bawku Municipality. Mr Avoka said this at Zebilla in the Bawku West District where together with the Director General of Immigration, Mrs Elizabeth Adjei, they met with security personnel, Chiefs and Assembly Members of the area at a mini durbar. The security personnel included Police, Immigration, Prisons, Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and Army Officers. The Minister announced that special attention would be given to all security personnel in Bawku, in terms of logistics, allowances and means of transport to enable them to carry out their duties effectively and said any Officer, who performed extraordinarily well would be rewarded. Responding to an appeal from the Immigration Service to arm their personnel, who go on border patrols, Mr Avoka said he would discuss the issue further with the right authorities but was positive that it would be approved. Mr Avoka told all the security personnel that they had a big responsibility not only to ensure peace in Bawku but to take up the challenge of cattle rustling, armed robbery, smuggling, narcotics and other trans-border crimes that the Region faced because it shared borders with Togo and Burkina Faso. He urged them to collaborate with their counterparts in the two neighbouring countries so as to make their work more effective as the robbers and other criminals usually sought refuge in those countries after their criminal acts. He noted that the Government had the political will to reduce crime in the country as shown by the decline in some negative activities and called on all, who had information on criminals or the conflict to report to the Police, as their identity would not be disclosed and they would be rewarded. Mrs Lucy Awuni, Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, noted that the conflict in Bawku had left a scar on the peaceful Region and said the Government was working assiduously to bring peace to the area. The Minister of Interior and the Director General of Immigration Service later cut a sod for work to begin on an office complex for the Immigration Service in Zebilla. Mr Avoka was accompanied by the Director General of Prisons; Mr William Kojo Aseidu and Mr Kwesi Ankonam Quayson, Director of Research, Development and Monitoring of the Ghana National Fire Service.