General News of Thursday, 9 June 2016
Source: kasapafmonline.com
Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, A former IGP
A former Inspector-General of Police in the erstwhile Kufuor administrtion, Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong has said the control and politicization of the Police by government cannot be done away with until the framers of the law consider a review of the mode of appointments of the IGP and other officers in the top hierarchy.
Mr. P.K Acheampong said it has been quiet flexible for the Police to be tied to the aprons strings of the regime in power because from time immemorial the system created a gap for the Police to be manipulated.
Speaking on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM Thursday, the former IGP argued that unlike the judiciary and other institutions where it is quiet tough for the government to take arbitrary decisions against a Judge, the police service is somewhat loose for the executive arm of government to control.
“From time immemorial the politicization of the police has prevailed because it is the President or the Prime Minister that appoints the IGP and also make appointments to the Police Council without any clear guidelines.
Over the years as we we try to amend the laws governing organizations, there hasn’t been any consideration to make the Police more independent. Unlike other institutions like the Judiciary, where it is difficult to remove a judge unless it is a genuine case much determined by a body or processes set to probe the issues, the police is left opened for governmental control.
Also within the Police Council itself, majority of the members there are people whom the President has appointed and highly controlled by government, apart from representatives of the Ghana Bar Association, and Retired Senior Police officers.
“Per the situation at hand, the President is not answerable in the decisions he takes within the Police Service; he can fire or remove an IGP three times in a row within a particular year and no one can question him on that.”