THE Police Administration has taken a very laudable step by prohibiting the sale of small axes, machetes, hammers and other offensive looking weapons like screws, drivers, pliers, spanners and toy guns.

The prohibition followed public outcry over the hawking of such items in the streets, which could be freely purchased by robbers and used in their operations. Petty criminals could also find them useful.

According to the Director of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, Superintendent David Eklu, the police have so far confiscated some of these items and they are being kept at the Accra Regional Police command.

He also intimated that the police were doing everything possible to discourage the importation and sale of such items, while also holding discussions with importers of axes on the matter.

Superintendent Eklu noted that the ban was not limited to the streets of Accra, but throughout the country.

We take this opportunity to commend the police on their thoughtfulness, and urge them to rigorously enforce the ban.

It is known that some dare-devils use only toy guns in their robbery operations. Others also use axes, knives, pliers and other offensive gadgets to intimidate and harm their victims if they disobey them.

If such items were sold openly in the streets, wouldn’t it be tantamount to condoning and facilitating crime in the country? Why should an axe, for instance, be marketed in the streets? Is it a very essential commodity deserving display on the streets?

Indeed, the streets have been turned into markets where every item imaginable is sold. Some of the sellers also double as mobile phone thieves, and bag snatchers especially at night.

Lawlessness on the streets is a real concern to commuters and pedestrians, and it is time some order returned to the streets.

If hawkers cannot be rid of the streets, there must be rules and regulations to regulate what they do. For example, car windshield cleaners do not clean only for cash. Some of them are specialists in pinching mobile phones from the front seats of cars.

So car washers should be banned from the streets to free motorists of the menace of thievery and other crimes.

The authorities must always remember that in promoting tourism, crime must be drastically reduced. If tourists find the streets of Accra dangerous, then tourism cannot thrive.

The issues concerning the streets of the capital should be revisited, because what happens in the street, wittingly or unwittingly, reflect what is happening in the entire country.

The eye of the nation is on the streets. That is why the issues emanating from the streets should be examined closely so that order can prevail in the capital and beyond.