Ghana began building armored cash-in-transit (CIT) trucks locally to ensure the country’s banks move large amounts of cash securely and are immune to theft attacks.
The first four vehicles that DIHOC- KENAKI Manufacturing Company Limited (DIKMAC) installed at its Armored Vehicle Assembly Facility at Camp Burma in Accra are now operational.
Defense Industries Holdings Company Limited (DIHOC), a private commercial arm of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), and Kenaki Manufacturing Company Limited have formed a joint venture (JVC) called DIKMAC.
It was spotted on Wednesday as President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo inspected the cars at the handover ceremony for the 2022 year-end rally.
A bank has already made arrangements to buy one, DIKMAC chief executive Kenneth Akibati told The Ghanaian Times.
A police officer on duty was killed in one of the attacks on gold wagons that took place over the past three years and several others were injured.
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Through its networks, the Kenaki team received technical support for the installation of the factory of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the country’s largest state-owned defense industrial complex, according to Akibate.
According to him, DIKMAC, in collaboration with GAF, has provided a solution to address the ICT difficulties faced by the banking sector in Ghana when the problem of armed attacks on gold vehicles turned into a national disaster in 2021.
In addition, he noted that DIKMAC is prepared to modify the CIT companies’ existing “soft-skin” CIT vehicles in accordance with the Bank of Ghana armament requirements. He said the CIT trucks were being tracked by a control center that would monitor and track them across the country.
According to Mr. Akibat, multiple interactions with stakeholders including those with the Bank of Ghana, the Police Service of Ghana and the Bankers Association of Ghana led the Armed Forces Council to endorse the DIKMAC Information and Communications Act.
According to Brigadier General William Agyapong, director general of Defense Industries Limited, the plan is part of attempts to make the armed forces self-sufficient, provided they have the goodwill, human resources and technological know-how to achieve it.
