Says It Lacks Credibility, Fairness To The Police & Must Be Ignored
News Desk Report
A leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Peter Boamah Otokunor has taken a swipe at Mr. Vitus Azeem and his outfit, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), describing result of corruption survey released by that outfit as not only baseless, but also has nothing worth writing home about. In an exclusive telephone conversation with The Informer over the weekend, the revered communication expert, who is also a member of the NDC Communication Team, said, even though the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) with Azeem as the Executive Director, can be commended in its efforts to bring to the attention of Ghanaians certain corrupt practices going on in society, the GII’s recent report released, does not reflect the exact picture on the ground.
According to Mr. Otokunor, Mr. Azeem and his group have been unfair to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye and his team, when every discerning mind in this country is well aware of the extent to which the police institution has been purged of miscreants in this short period of Quaye’s administration.
“Evidence abounds of how Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, taking over the administration of the police service together with his schedule officers worked tirelessly to shape the service with reports of personnel indulging in professional misconduct including, extortion of money from the policing public having been made to dance to the tune of ‘the music’ per the service’s rules and regulation”, he pointed out.
“To me; I believe many like-minded Ghanaians will testify that, the police service that we all witnessed some ten (10) back, precisely under the erstwhile Kufuor administration, is not what we are presenting seeing, where discipline has become the order of the day and that is why I totally disagree with this survey”, Peter Otokunor added.
“If Mr. Vitus Azeem and his Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) have not seen the extent to which the police institution under the able leadership of Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye have been transformed, majority of Ghanaians are aware, and so to interview just a section of Ghanaians and use as the basis to conclude that the institution is corrupt, with some cooked figures is completely unacceptable”, he added.
“We know institutions of state more corrupt than the police service, so for the GII to single out Mr. Quaye and his outfit and tagged them black in a so-called survey, when evidence of transformation in recent times is clear, is the least write home about”, Peter opines.
According to Mr. Peter Boamah Otokunor, the method or procedure used to arrive at the said research findings is not known; and based purely on perception an institution has been branded to be the most corrupt, when all of us know the situation prevailing on the grounds.
“We will not accept a survey which is purely based on perception, and that is why I think Mr. Victus Azeem and his group should come again the next time and work better so that Ghanaians will take them serious”, he concludes, saying all surveys which methods are not known but based on perception will not see the light of day in this country.
However, as a body that has followed developments in the police service since Mr. Paul Quaye took over, we totally agree with Mr. Otokunor as regards the reforms that have taken place in the service and most importantly the reduction in crime rate.
On this note, we can therefore, conclude that the police service was unfairly targeted in terms of this survey and will advise that more pragmatic approach be used so as not to deter people of their effort.
