Adequate measures are underway for the installation of vehicle undercarriage scanners in Parliament to check all vehicles that enter the precincts of the House in order to ensure proper security for all those working in the House by the beginning of the Third Meeting of the House.
These vehicle undercarriage scanners are designed to scan the whole of a vehicle and its contents without having to open it or its boot compartment and is provided with a monitor to display the contents of the vehicle on the screen.
The need for the installation of the vehicle undercarriage scanners have been on the drawing board for some time now, resulting in the hiring of two undercarriage scanners placed at the two main gates during this year’s presentation of the State of the Nation Address on 9th March.
The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and the Majority Leader in Parliament Osei Kyei-Mensah made these disclosures as part of answers on the floor of Parliament when answering an urgent parliamentary question on Monday August 02.
The question stood in the name of the Afadzato South Member Angelina Oforiwa Alorwu-Tay who asked to know measures put in place for use of vehicle undercarriage scanners to check vehicles entering parliamentary precincts to ensure security of those working in the House.
The Majority Leader who doubles as MP for Suame in his answer said Parliament is considered a High Value Target (HVT), hence the need for vehicles entering its precincts to be thoroughly searched to ensure weapons or explosive ordinance devices (EODs) are not concealed in them.
He indicated that the need for an outright purchase of the undercarriage scanners as a permanent feature in Parliament’s physical security infrastructure was one of the recommendations made during the 2021 post-State of The Nation Address Event.
Subsequently, he said, the Marshals Departments proposed the installation of these undercarriage scanners at the three vehicular entrances and exits of the house namely, the Ceremonial Gate, the Protocol Gate and the North-Western PWD Gate.
According to the House Leader, the necessary processes are therefore being undertaken towards the purchase of the scanners and that procurement process will be expedited so that by the time the House reconvenes in October, undercarriage scanners will have been put in place.
He further disclosed that the security facilities earlier donated by the Chinese government including sets of X-Ray Baggage Scanners, Walk-Through Metal Detectors, Hand-Held Metal Detectors and Human Body Security Detector facilities have been put into application and are playing important roles in the House’s security protection work.
