Accra, Dec 16, GNA - The Ghana Police Service has been called upon to take conscious and affirmative action to recruit more women into the police service.
The Institution has also been asked to repackage the negative image of the service and deploy both women and men on both indoor duties on equal basis.
These were some of the recommendations contained in a report on gender sensitisation and policy development for the police service, which Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister for Women and Children's Affairs presented in Accra.
The report was a follow-up to a workshop held in June this year at Akosombo by the staff of the Ghana Police, Women's Ministry and the United Nations office.
The purpose was to help transform the Ghana Police Service to undertake gender mainstreaming as part of its institutional restructuring and to reflect contemporary international practices and standards.
The report said selection of 2,000 graduates for this year started from April and due to lack of facilities to accommodate, 500 graduates were picked for admission, adding that, at the moment, there were still graduates on the waiting list yet to be called on.
It said Accra, Ho and Koforidua were the only centres for training police recruits, adding that a scheme was said to be establsihed to enable at least 500 females to be taken into the training school.
The report also recommended that mechanism be put in place to monitor compliance of the 18 months probation before confirmation of appointment at the service and should be applied to both men and women. The report called for advocacy groups be sent to second cycle institutions to entice young women to augment the female number in the service and also to network with NGOs and all security services. Mrs Asmah said a recent research by the World Bank showed that gender disparities impeded economic growth and hampered poverty reduction programmes.
She said the Ministry had the mandate to provide policy guidelines as well as advice on technical support to government, ministries, departments and agencies working to promote gender equality and empowerment of women.
She said government's commitment to implementing key international human rights instruments such as the convention of the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women makes it imperative for the MOWCA to address human rights issues and promote gender.
Mrs Asmah said the workshop recommendations, if implemented would achieve the purpose for which the workshop was organised. Nana Owusu Nsiah, Inspector General of Police said the current situation as regards to gender composition, roles, training, duties and promotions needed a continuous review.
He said the issue of mainstreaming gender and the development of a gender policy were also to be taken seriously as a law enforcement organisation.
He said in Sub-Sahara Africa, across East and West Africa, the Ghana Police service was the first to establish a strategic Unit, Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) to respond to issues affecting women and children.
This thereby makes the service one of the leading champions of human rights, concerning, especially women and children.
Nana Nsiah said a track record of women who served in the police service won the admiration of many and paved the way for many more women to be appointed to senior positions in the police service.
He said women and men had been equally involved in both operations and administration of policing, adding however, that there was the need to continue to develop new ways to optimise the potential of all personnel to meet the operational and administrative challenges. He expressed the hope that with the assistance of MOWAC the police service would build up a gender policy that would address any gender gaps.
In a speech read for him, Mr Alfred Sallia Fawundu, United Nations Resident Representative called for action on the part of the police service to address gender issues.
He commended WAJU for its service and congratulated the police service for taking another bold initiative and pledged the organisation's support towards seeing a full gender policy in place for the Ghana Police Service.
Mr Ken Agyemang Attafuah, Executive Secretary, National Reconciliation Commission who chaired the function called for fair share in all aspects of the work and not only gender equality.
