More changes in police

In ongoing changes in the structures of the Ghana Police Service since he assumed the reins of the law enforcement agency, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Alhassan has directed a mass transfer of personnel from the National Headquarters of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service which took effect last week.

The action comes on the heels of the elevation of the MTTU to a department status to be headquartered at the Police Headquarters under the direction of a director.

The action addresses the long-standing confusion over the limitations of the Commanding Officer of the National MTTU which until now was limited to the Greater Accra Region.

While the Greater Accra Regional Commander considered the MTTU outfits in the various commands in the region as falling under the jurisdiction of the regional commander, the Commanding Officer thought otherwise, confusion which was brought to the notice of the then IGP Paul Quaye.

With this development the long-standing impasse has been addressed as the Director would control traffic management throughout the country with the man managing the MTTU in Accra Central and others countrywide reporting directly to him.

It is expected that this would lead to better management of traffic in the country than previously.

Some 57 personnel in the inspectorate grade and some motorcycle riders from the MTTU in Accra have already moved to the Police headquarters as part of the nucleus of the Traffic Department to be headed by ACP Awuni Angwubutoge, who vacates his desk at the Accra Central base for the headquarters.

The increased police visibility project at vantage points and a long-term foot patrols in neighbourhoods is also on course as a critical dream of the IGP, Daily Guide has learnt from a reliable source.

The mass transfer, according to ACP Awuni Angwubutoge, the Commanding Officer of the MTTU now Director of the new Traffic Management Department, “was a response to a request I had made earlier to the former IGP but which has just been responded to by the new man in charge.”

In a chat with DAILY GUIDE before his elevation, ACP Anguwbutoge said that he was unable to use the many inspectors and chief inspectors numbering 57 for traffic management duties in Accra, hence the request to the IGP.

He said that he needs constables to perform traffic management duties, given the near intractable traffic congestions in Accra.

The Public Affairs Directorate previously headed by a Superintendent then a DSP is now being headed by a DCOP in the person of David Ampah-Bennin, who until this development was Director General Technical Ghana Police Service.

The elevation of the directorate to a Department defines the importance the IGP places on the management of media affairs in the Service having already hosted editors at the Police Officers’ Mess earlier.