The Public Relations Officer of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, Clement Boateng has warned the public to be weary of middle-men at the Abossey Okai market because “most of those boys are ex-convicts”. He told Adom News “we know most of those so-called ‘goro’ boys are ex-convicts and they have become a nuisance to us and our customers at Abossey Okai”. Mr. Boateng, popularly known as Caboat, noted that the “goro” boys who stand at the Abossey Okai junction and pretend to be assisting customers to purchase the right equipment at the right price rather tend to dupe customers and sometimes steal parts of their vehicles. He has therefore cautioned visitors to Abossey Okai to go to the shops and get whatever item they wanted for themselves, because the “goro” boys usually inflated the prices of items when customers send them to the shops to get items for them. Mr. Boateng said about a week ago about five shops were broken into at Abossey Okai and valuable items stolen. He suspected the thieves to be "goo boys", noting that they were selective in what they stole - they knew the difference between valuable and non-valuable spare parts. “We are currently working with the Police in Kaneshie to flush out the “goro” boys, most of whom we know to be ex-convicts – the police are also in the process of putting a patrol team together to patrol the area at night to protect our shops,” he said. Security Expert, Dr. Kwesi Aning also told Adom News the problem at Abossey Okai was not only with the ‘goro’ boys, but even some of the shopkeepers were either criminals themselves, or were working with criminals to steal and sell spare parts. He said four years ago some valuable parts of a Benz saloon car were stolen at Madina, which parts were later found in a shop at Abossey Okai. This issue raises questions about whether the prisons are really reforming inmates and whether there is a policy or a programme to effectively reintegrate ex-convicts into society, he said. Chief Public Relations Officer of Ghana Prisons Service (GSP), ASP Courage Akyem told Adom News there are various reform programmes in the country’s prisons - some prisoners responded positively to them but others did not. He said the work of the GPS on prisoners ends when the prisoners finish serving their sentences, saying other institutions are therefore responsible for monitoring and reintegrating them into society. Divisional Commander of Kaneshie Police Command, Chief Superintendent Avadekyi told Adom News the police had a programme to monitor ex-convicts, but their efforts were hampered by the lack of records on the number of ex-convicts. Story by: Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom News/Ghana