OSSM slams Ashanti Police Commander

Operation Save the Suffering Masses (OSSM), a Kumasi-based human rights organisation, has criticised the Ashanti Regional Police Command for the inefficient manner it handled the recent attack on the Regional Security Co-ordinator by the Delta Force, a vigilante group of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Nana Kwasi Kwarteng, Spokesman for OSSM, in a statement issued in Kumasi yesterday, condemned the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, describing him as inefficient, noting that the attitude of the police that fateful Friday was below standard.

The OSSM spokesman’s condemnation of the police chief comes after DCOP Ken Yeboah admitted that he had intelligence of the imminent attack on the security co-ordinator, and advised him against going to the office that fateful day, but he paid no heed to it, hence the attack.

DCOP Yeboah is on record to have said that “we (police) gathered intelligence on March 23, that some people were trying to attack the office,” as a result of which he (DCOP Yeboah) cautioned Security Co-ordinator George Adjei against going there.

The Police Commander also admitted that the Delta Force, numbering over 200, over-powered the police, and something untoward could have happened if the police fired bullets and tear gas. “If the police had used bullets, ammunition or tear gas, I am sure we would have had casualties, the best approach was to rescue the man from the place, and that was exactly what we did,” DCOP Yeboah is reported to have said.

But, Nana Kwarteng says the Ashanti Regional Police boss’ best was not good enough, and that he (the Ashanti Regional Police boss) had openly exhibited, not only his inefficiency, but his incapacity to properly handle the region in the face of the enviable and excellent manner his predecessor did to the admiration of all.

“The Ashanti Regional Police boss is completely weak and not solid,” the OSSM boss indicated.

Nana Kwarteng suggested that to prevent any mayhem in the face of gathered intelligence, as claimed, the main gates of the RCC should have been manned by a security detail to prevent the Delta Force from running over the entire RCC premises.

He said also that the police boss should have convened an emergency meeting of the Regional Security Council to discuss the issue ahead of time, since he claimed he had information of the attack a day before the incident.

The OSSM said even in the face of the alleged obstinacy of the Regional Security Co-ordinator, the Police Commander should have moved faster to avert the unprecedented attack on the offices of the Regional Co-ordinating Council in Kumasi on Friday March 24, 2017.

The movement has also condemned the attack by the Delta Force on the Security Co-ordinator, whose only crime is to have come from the Eastern Region to work in Ashanti Region, describing the vandalism and physical assault of Mr. Adjei as primitive and disgraceful.