The national platform of the West African Police Information System (WAPIS) was launched in Ghana on 29 September 2015.
Attended by the INTERPOL Vice President for Africa, the ECOWAS Vice President, the European Union Ambassador to Ghana, Ghana’s Minister for the Interior as well as high-level authorities from Benin, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger and Senegal, the launch ceremony was an opportunity to take stock of the WAPIS Programme’s achievements so far in the four pilot countries: Benin, Ghana, Mali and Niger.
Interpol Vice President for Africa
Sebastian Haitota Ndeitunga, Vice President for Africa on INTERPOL’s Executive Committee, said “The WAPIS Programme works towards bringing West African law enforcement closer together to help bring about enhanced security across the region.”
Vice President of Ecowas
ECOWAS Vice President Toga Geyewya McIntosh underlined how “the WAPIS Programme was launched to address one of the main areas of weakness in managing transnational organized criminality in our region, inaccurate statistics and data on reported criminality.”
European Union Ambassador to Ghana
The EU Head of Delegation in Accra, Ambassador William Hanna, called on all the concerned national authorities in West Africa to “swiftly endorse the WAPIS system and further develop it, stressing that it is an essential tool for police authorities against criminal networks”.
Ghana’s Minister of Interior
Ghana’s Minister for the Interior Mark Owen Woyongo said: “The full implementation of the WAPIS Programme will support the efforts of national authorities and ECOWAS in improving the security of citizens in West Africa and around the world.”
