The CEO of leading security solutions provider, Virtual Security Africa (VSA), has admonished government to think creatively about its project to procure and deploy CCTV cameras across the country. Mr. Emmanuel Sekyere Asiedu said the country is better served if the cameras, recorders and ancillary equipment were manufactured in Ghana rather than being imported wholesale. He was reacting to recent media publications quoting Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as saying that “Negotiations have just been completed for the rollout of Phase 2 of the Alpha Project which will involve the deployment of 8,700 CCTV cameras in all 216 districts with three command centres in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale.” The Vice-President was speaking at the graduation of new Police Cadets in Accra. Commenting on the revelation, Mr. Asiedu, who also represents US security giant, Aventura Technologies, in Africa, said there are better gains to be made by the country if the surveillance equipment were manufactured locally. “Government’s own determination to create jobs for the tech-savvy Ghanaian youth imposes an obligation on them to apply innovative thinking to its laudable initiatives,” he said. He told journalists companies such as Aventura are more than willing to set up plants in Ghana and produce their cutting-edge pieces of technology not only to provide for local solutions but also for the sub-region and the continent at large. “The opportunities are enormous in terms of technology transfer, tailor-made solutions, tax revenues in the long run and, of course, jobs,” he said. Mr. Asiedu further stated, “we live in a very different world and today we are faced with complex criminal activities and security threats.  It is no longer about simply hanging cameras on a pole or a building and using them post-mortem. Our country needs to have cutting edge technology that has been embraced worldwide. Ghana needs to invest in scalable security platforms that we can leverage going forward. Our solutions need to support state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, video analytics, face recognition, number plate recognition and ability to integrate with command-and-control. Investments in lower cost Chinese solutions is not where we should be investing our future.” Deploying cameras in the districts is a great initiative for the fight against crimes which must be supported but approached prudently. “That is the reason I am appealing the Vice-President to let us explore mechanisms which serve our purposes in the long-term,” he added. He said senior management of Aventura has been visiting Ghana and were awed by the potential buoyed by a stable political and economic environment with an educated workforce. “With very little effort, therefore, we can quickly set in Ghana and deliver in record time what the government wants – 8,700 CCTV cameras in all districts – and more, at competitive prices inclusive of the advanced technologies being implemented worldwide,” he stressed. From a national security perspective and just as if not, more important local manufacture eliminates many of the foreign-made product cybersecurity concerns, which have resulted in catastrophic events as seen in the global media.