IGP Defends Police

THE INSPECTOR General of Police, Paul Tawiah Quaye, has assured Ghanaians that the country is not in tatters as some people want to portray.

Mr Quaye cautioned that critics should not take the calmness of the police as weakness, as their comments would not in any way daunt their resolve to stay committed to ensuring that they enforce the law fairly and passionately without regard to position, power, religion social or political status.

The police capo regretted that a section of the public had become so temperamental and were angrily using unprintable words to attack the Police Service with the aim of discrediting its hardworking officers who had been rendering an excellent job to maintain peace in the country.

“Indeed, the perception deliberately created by a certain group of people in society that the police are biased and unprofessional is very unfortunate,” IGP observed.

Mr. Quaye however maintained that the service welcomed any constructive and fair criticism from the public as they were vital to refining the service for the improvement of its services to Ghanaians.

He promised that the Police Service would not in anyway discriminate against any group of persons in the execution of its work, urging officers to remain non-partisan and neutral in their engagements while they stayed glued to their legal position of being accountable to the law and the people of Ghana.

He called on the media as the fourth estate of the realm to remain circumspect in their reportage, feeding the public with accurate and development-oriented information that would keep the citizens focused as a country, especially as the elections drew closer.

The media was also urged not to create an arena for self-centred individuals or groups to propagate lies and unsubstantiated rumours to incite the public as well as attacking the integrity of others.

Mr Quaye urged that aggrieved persons use the available structures to seek redress while calling on all stakeholders to help maintain the peace process.

“This will help avoid a situation that may compromise the peace and security of the country,” said the IGP.

He observed that apart from a few unfortunate incidents, the biometric registration had been fairly successful. So far, he noted, some electoral offenders had been arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for various offences.

The Interior Minister, William Kwasi Aboah, observed that the work of police all over the world suffered unpleasant flight of accusations of being biased and therefore advised that the phenomenon should not divert their focus from executing their mandate without fear or favour.

“Your professional ethics enjoin you to be fair and firm in enforcing the law without any discrimination whatsoever on grounds of sex, religion, class, ethnic affiliation or political inclination,” the minister told the police.

Mr Aboah announced that government, with the approval of parliament, was securing some equipment under a BNP Paribas €50million loan facility from France to augment the work of the police.

Among the equipments and logistics are 1,110 ten pick-ups and saloon cars, 100 motorbikes, 1,000 walkie-talkies, two cabin patrol cutters, several ballistic vests, protection helmets, ballistic plates and four high speed interceptor boats for the marine police.

Some 500 selected police officers would undergo training on a wide rage of marine courses in marine law enforcement, with the view to protecting Ghana’s coastline, especially the shores and oil industry.

Problems regarding the Police Hospital Development Project have been resolved.

Negotiations were at an advanced stage for International Hospital Group (IHG) to resume work soon.

The draft Police Service Regulation is also before cabinet and will be passed immediately parliament resumed. This will consolidate all existing police legislative instruments to stand the test of time.

The minister observed that the parking of accident and broken-down vehicles in front of the various police stations was an eyesore. He therefore issued a two-month ultimatum for the clearing of such cars from police stations to beautify the stations.

Mr Aboah earlier visited the Criminal Data and Statistics Bureau (CDSB) unit of the CID Headquarters.