2,000 Cops to be recruited

Mark Owen Woyongo, Minister of the Interior, has indicated that government is in the process of recruiting more people into the Ghana Police Service (GPS).

According to him, about 2,000 more people are being considered for recruitment to beef up the Service to match the increasing population trend.

Currently, there are over 35,000 police personnel strategically deployed through some 709 police stations and posts throughout the country.

Addressing the top brass of the Service during a visit to the Police Headquarters in Accra yesterday, the minister was emphatic that Ghana had enjoyed peace and stability and as such is touted globally as an island of peace, stability and good governance. This credit, the Minister for the Interior said, must go to the security agencies for their selfless commitment to their duties.

Mr. Woyongo said every community should have its full complement of policemen and women to ensure that Ghanaians continue to live in peace.

Mr. Woyongo noted that currently there is the issue of terrorism in the eastern corridor of Nigeria, adding that, “these are issues that we will dread to have in our country, and we can only keep these things at bay if we continue to put premium on security.”

He said over the last couple of years, government had made some conscious efforts to re-equip and re-tool the Police Service so as to enhance its work.

On the training of personnel of the Service, Mr. Woyongo indicated that it was about time the Service made a conscious effort towards recruiting lawyers for prosecution cases.

“It should be possible for us to either train or recruit lawyers…I expect the police to be able to sponsor some of your men to do law; this is something I want you to think about,” the Interior Minister suggested.

Mr. Woyongo continued: “I also think that those policemen you attach to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) after the Police Training School should go for another training course in narcotics.”

He however charged the police officers to eschew politics in their line of duty.

“As policemen, your commitment, loyalty and service should be to the government of the day; I’m not saying to the NDC government. Governments change; today it is NDC, tomorrow it could be CPP or NPP. Your commitment and loyalty should be to whichever government is in power,” the Interior Minister averred.

Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, Inspector General of Police (IGP), while congratulating the minister on his appointment as the new Interior Minister, said the Service is the lead and the largest agency within the Ministry of Interior.

He said over the years the Service had had some problems with its public image because of the activities of some few bad ones within the Service.

The IGP however stated that there had been initiatives, such as the introduction of the patrol and visibility concepts, which had redeemed the image of the Service and boosted public confidence in the police.