42 bodyguards for former President Kufour

Can you believe that former President John Agyekum Kufour alone has been assigned 42 police personnel to protect him?

The list of the 42 police personnel emanating from the Police headquarters and which has been intercepted by this paper divides the officers into three groups.

It includes one Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), two Chief Inspectors, nine Inspectors and 30 others of different ranks.

The Insight gathered that most of these officers worked in the Very-Very Important People Protection Unit (VVIPPU) of the Ghana Police Service and were part of the presidential security both at the Osu Castle and Mr. Kufour’s house during the NPP regime.

The first batch of 16 is those permanently attached to the former President’s residence while the second group of 12 serves as his escorts.

The third and last group of 14 comprises those who are attached to Mr. Kufour’s wife in the same house for no specific duties mentioned.

Perhaps, former President J.A. ‘Bosompra’ Kufour might be happy at this development, for at least one of his requests has been granted.

In a letter to President Mills in January this year, ex- President Kufour quoted some portions of the Chinnery Hesse Committee report and requested for “adequate” security which includes two police motorcades.

Checks by this paper however revealed that the former President prevailed on the police hierarchy at the time of leaving office to be given 42 bodyguards. It is interesting that his predecessor Ft. Lt. J.J. Rawlings has only two police officers serving as guards.

This paper gathered that when Mrs. Mills-Robertson assumed the position of acting Inspector General of Police, she could not attempt reducing the size of ex-President Kufour’s bodyguards though that arrangement attracted the fury of some senior officers.

And The Insight can still report of a growing disquiet at the headquarters of the Ghana Police Service over the matter.

Some senior officers told this reporter the Service at the moment was grappling with the shortage of personnel for normal duties. “Those officers have been there (Kufour’s residence) for months. We need to tackle the growing crime rate head-on,” one senior officer said last Friday. When this paper sought official clarifications from the top brass of the Ghana Police Service on Friday 28th May 2009, most of them declined.

“I don’t know how many bodyguards are with former President Kufour.”

The right person to answer that question is the Director of Operations, Mr. Kudalor,” said DSP Kwesi Fori, Public Affairs Director.

When this reporter was at the Police headquarters last week, the PRO directed him to Mr. Boi Bi Boi, a well respected officer who has been brought in by the new IGP to pursue drastic reforms.

Mr. Bio Bi Bio told The Insight that the Director of Police Operations and he were new at post and they are yet to be briefed on those issues. He said he had no immediate information on the issue and if the reporter could come today Monday 1st June, he would have gathered some information.