I sanctioned promotions of officers, not Akufo-Addo - IGP denies ‘election week’ promotions report

James Oppong-Boanuh, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has denied a report by ‘The Herald’ newspaper that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has promoted some police officers ahead of the December 7 elections.

Speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo Morning Show, the IGP indicated he signed the promotions of some Junior Staff Officers within the Ghana Police Service, and that those promotions were not sanctioned by the Akufo-Addo administration.

“Yes, I promoted some officers yesterday, it was not because of the elections. It is something we did last year, we did so in 2018, 2017, 2016…it is a mere coincidence.

“The IGP can only promote Junior Staff Officers. Senior Staff to Assistant Commissioner(s) are promoted by the Police Council, and [......] Assistant Commissioner(s) to Inspector General of Police are promoted by the President,” Oppong-Boanuh told Kwami Sefa Kayi on the show.

He added: “Every officer spends three to four years at a rank, we have the list that shows that every year, an officer has spent four years at his rank so we promote police officers every four years. For most officers, it is not about the money that made them enter the service but the promotion. I was once a banker; I worked at ADB for two years but the money in the service was one-third of my salary at ADB but that did not discourage me because I liked the job,” James Oppong-Boanuh said.

He added that if the promotion of an officer is stifled, it becomes a big problem.

“If you are someone who is concerned about the welfare of the officers within the service, then you need to promote any officer due for promotion,” he said.

The IGP stressed, “All the officers we promoted are due for promotion and there are vacancies at the next rank they are being promoted to, but not all officers due were promoted. For instance, if the officers due for promotion are 100 and the rank they are being promoted to has 50 vacancies, we promote 50 officers and leave the rest, and promote them the following year when there are vacancies.”

The Herald newspaper earlier reported that the IGP James Oppong Boanuh has on the orders of President Nana Akufo-Addo made some promotions.

The paper stated that the Junior Rank Officers had been promoted from the existing ranks to the next rank.

"The promotions come just a few days after the government increased the salaries of the Police Officers with the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama describing the payments as an inducement," the newspaper said in its reportage.

The Herald further stated that these promotions are seen as a panic reaction to reports that exit polls conducted after the Special Voting exercise on Tuesday, December 1, did not look good for the government hence the sudden promotions.

About 100,000 personnel of the security services including the personnel of the Ghana Police Service took part in early voting on Monday, ahead of the December 7 elections.