Police promotions won’t delay anymore – Minister

The Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, has given assurance that the promotions of police officers would not be delayed in the Ghana Police Service under the current Akufo-Addo administration.

The issue of promotions has been a major problem for the men in black over the years.

Addressing personnel of the service at the Western Regional Police headquarters in Sekondi yesterday, Mr Dery remarked “the Police Council, chaired by the Vice President, has not worked for too many months, but you will testify that we have dealt with the backlog of promotions in the Ghana Police Service and we intend doing that going forward.

“We think that the personnel must be given their due and we are not going to renege on that. So we have done it and we are looking lower down to make sure that it happens.”

“I know around the Inspectors side, I have said we have to find innovative methods of making sure that we do not hold promotions back because there are not sufficient rooms in the training schools”.

“I have asked the IGP to work out a mechanism by which we would have an in-out system so that we do not lose out.

Mr Derry mentioned that the Police Council was working to make sure the police discharge their duties in a secure environment, adding “And even when you get injured or God forbid, you pass on, there will be something for your dependants”.

He entreated the police to collaborate with the other security agencies to boost security in Ghana.

The Minister is in the Western Region for a three-day working visit during which he would interact with personnel of the various agencies under his ministry to learn at first-hand their challenges and how they could be tackled.

The first port of call of Mr Dery, who was accompanied by his deputy, Henry Quartey, was the Regional Coordinating Council where he interacted with the Western Regional Minister, Dr Kweku Afriyie and his deputy, Gifty Eugenia Kusi, as well as heads of some security agencies in the region to brief them on his mission in the region.

At a durbar organized in his honour by police personnel in Sekondi, the Minister noted that he was highly impressed with the performance of the police in the region.

“Available statistics indicate that from January to September last year, the region recorded 91 robbery cases but the cases recorded within the same period this year was 39, representing 57 percent reduction in robbery cases.”

He added that “stealing cases also reduced from 3,101 in the third quarter of last year to 911 within the same period this year”.

The Minister was convinced that the transformation agenda being pursued by the police administration would increase police-civilian interactions and help bridge the gap.

“As part of efforts to bridge police-civilian ratio, more new personnel would be recruited to add to the current number of personnel,” he revealed.

He assured the police that the government would continue to support them with the needed vehicles, rifles, accommodation and other protective gadgets to transform the service into one of the best in the world.

According to Hon Dery, effective policing thrives on quality information and therefore appealed to the citizens to provide the police with the requisite information to help reduce crime in Ghana.

The Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Kwesi Duku briefed the Minister on the chaotic incident that occurred at Wassa Akropong last Friday during which a Chinese national allegedly shot and killed one Nana Buah in the area.

“The alleged killer has been arrested and calm has returned to the area as some security personnel continue to patrol the area. Some of the Chinese nationals who voluntarily wanted to leave the town were assisted to do so,” he added.

From the police regional headquarters, the minister and his entourage visited the Regional Fire Service also in Sekondi.

Addressing the personnel, Mr Dery reiterated government’s commitment to investing in the service to operate effectively.

The Minister also commended the personnel of the Service for their outstanding performance that had prevented rampant fire outbreaks.

Personnel must not hesitate to identify certain facilities that must be removed in certain areas in their fire investigative reports to help avoid massive casualties during fire outbreaks, he stated.

The Minister also interacted with personnel of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Ghana Prisons Service and National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).