Slain cops honoured

President Akufo-Addo consoling some bereaved family members of the fallen police officers at the ceremony in Accra. Picture by Gifty Ama Lawson

The police officer who was shot and killed in a dawn raid by armed robbers at the Kwabenya Police Station early this year has been honoured.

The late Inspector Emmanuel Ashilevi was posthumously honoured together with 12 other policemen who also died in line of duty in 2018 by the Ghana Police Service yesterday during a Police Memorial Day held at the National Police Depot in Accra.

Inspector Ashilevi was posthumously promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).

The rest were the late Chief Inspector Adolph Mutse, Corporal Nicholas Duku, Corporal Daniel Adu Tieku, and Corporal Prosper Ashinyo who have their names engraved on the Wall of Honour.

Late Sergeant Yakubu Seidu, Sergeant Emmanuel Aduko, Sergeant Owusu Appiah, Corporal Salifu Alhassan, Corporal Thomas Kwame Adu, Lance Corporal Animon Kwaku Danso, Lance Corporal Abdulai Sumaila, and Constable Emmanuel Lamptey also have their names inscribed in the “Roll of Honour.”

Present at the ceremony were the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante Apeatu and the Chief of Defense Staff, Lt. General Obed Boamah Akwa.

Apart from lighting the perpetual flame, the President and others including the IGP, a chief and a representative of the bereaved families laid wreaths in honour of the departed police officers.

The Police Memorial Day was first celebrated in the year 2014.

In the maiden celebration, all officers who qualified for honours prior to the day were immortalised. Two years later in 2016, a cenotaph was inaugurated for the purpose of creating a “Wall of Honour”. Fifteen Police officers were immortalised in that year with eight names engraved on the “Wall of Honour” and seven inscribed in the “Roll of Honour.”

Similarly, in 2017, nine police officers were honoured; five of them had their names engraved on the “Wall of Honour” and the rest inscribed in the “Roll of Honour.”