Cooperation And Contestation In Crime Prevention In Asesewa In The Eastern Region Of Ghana

ABSTRACT

This research sought to qualitatively examine how the various partners of crime prevention cooperate in crime prevention and whether while cooperating, there are many forms of contestations among them. The nodal governance theory (which purports that there are various partners which fall on different strategies to govern the system individuals inhabit) was employed. The theory argues that these partners can benignly support each other or conflict while they attempt to prevent crime. The pattern for crime prevention in Ghana changed during colonialism when in an attempt to replace traditional methods of crime prevention, state agencies of crime prevention were introduced. However, the ineffectiveness of these newly introduced agencies necessitated a revival of the non-state agencies. Therefore, in the era of post-colonialism state and non-state agencies cooperate to prevent crime. The study used a semi-structured interview guide to interview sixteen respondents and found that in Asesewa, both state and non-state agencies cooperate to fight crime. The state agencies are the District Assembly, the police and the court, while the non-state agencies that support the state agencies in the community are the Assembly Members, the Unit Committee Members, Alternative Dispute Resolution, the School Management Committee, the Task Force and the Dademantse Union. The cooperation among the agencies reveals the hierarchical nature of cooperation which determines who calls the shots and the kind of relationship that exists among them — the vertical form of relationship examined the flow of resources from the top of the hierarchical ladder to the bottom of the ladder. The horizontal form of relationship determines the cordial relationship that exists among agencies at the same level in the hierarchy. The study therefore concluded that all the agencies of crime prevention in Asesewa cooperate to achieve their set goals, because the agencies exist within a system and they mobilise resources to achieve the xii objective of crime prevention. Even though there are some minor forms of contestations among the agencies as the theory espoused, they are able to effectively collaborate to achieve set targets.