The first four vehicles that DIHOC- KENAKI Manufacturing Company Limited (DIKMAC) equipped at its armored vehicle assembly facility at Burma Camp in Accra are now ready for use.
Defense Industries Holding Company Limited (DIHOC), the private business arm of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), and Kenaki Manufacturing Company Limited have formed a joint venture company (JVC) called DIKMAC.
This was discovered on Wednesday when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Ado inspected the cars as part of the handover ceremony for the 2022 GAF year-end meeting.
The armored vehicles will be on the road, according to DIKMAC Managing Director Kenneth Consequently, who told the Ghanaian Times that a bank has made arrangements to purchase them.
“The need to find a solution to the attack on bullion vans by armed robbers led to the necessary intervention to gather in this factory in the local Armored Bullion Vans factory to help protect the lives of police guards, bank workers and also to protect cash and other valuables in transit .” managing director comments.
An on-duty police officer was killed in one of the bullion van attacks that took place in the past three years, and several others were injured.
Through the network, the Kenaki team, according to Mr. Consequently, was able to obtain technical support for the establishment of the plant from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the largest state defense industrial complex in the country.
According to him, DIKMAC, in cooperation with GAF, provides solutions to overcome the difficulties of CIT facing the Banking industry in Ghana when the problem of armed attacks on bullion vehicles becomes a national disaster in 2021.
In addition, he noted that DIKMAC is prepared to convert “soft skin” CIT vehicles for the current CIT Company in line with the requirements of the Armoring Bank of Ghana. He said the CIT trucks will be accompanied by a control center that monitors and tracks them across the country.
According to Mr. Consequently, various stakeholder interactions, including with the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Police Service, and the Ghana Bankers Association, resulted in the Armed Forces Council approving the DIKMAC CIT.
According to Brigadier General William Agyapong, the Director General of Defense Industries Limited, the plan is part of efforts to make the Force self-sufficient because it has good intentions, human resources, and technology that can be implemented.