Missive To IGP

Compliments of the day, sir. May we have your permission to call your attention to an anomaly, which if you consider and act upon, will enhance the image of your esteemed foremost internal security organization.

We have editorialized for some time now on matters bordering on the Ghana Police Service as and when these crop up. This we have done with no malice intended but with the objective of supporting you to improve upon the operations of the Service as we have done with other sectors of state.

Unfortunately, however, anytime we come out with such editorials, the PR response suggests that we are at loggerheads with you. All Ghanaians including police personnel will suffer the consequences of a fractured Police Service, we can bet.

We would be the last group of Ghanaians therefore to work against the interest of this critical internal security organization. Never!

When we take issues regarding certain shortcomings, therefore, we would prefer that you consider these with a view to ameliorating the anomalies therein and not fret over imaginary foes intent on making your tenure the most despised in the history of policing.

For your information, there are serious anomalies regarding recruitment of personnel into the Service which, if not stemmed now, would have far-reaching consequences on policing in the not too distant future.

Since such recruitments form the source of engaging young Ghanaians for service in the Police, the need for utmost adherence to the standards cannot be over-emphasised.

It is for this reason that we plead with you to take more interest in the operations of those charged with the rather complex yet important process of sieving and choosing the most qualified to don the police uniform.

The process we have gathered is fraught with a number of challenges which have impacted negatively on the quality of the output of the personnel entrusted with the task.

The process has been afflicted with the contagion of corruption and the interference of politicians who undermine the strict adherence to the standards.

Prospective recruits, for your information, pay to obtain the forms to be eventually given the nod to commence training at the various training schools.

You may not get the kind of evidence that you might need to tackle this challenge from us, but Mr. IGP, they exist and there are people who have paid as much as GH¢2000 through middlemen to people in charge of the process.

It is not in the interest of the Police to allow such anomalies to persist. It can only be imagined the kind of constables we churn out who paid their way to be recruited into the Police Service.

We ask that you consider this missive as one not intended to undermine you but to rather call your attention to a worrying phenomenon so that our country would be a better place for us and our descendants.

Please consider the foregone with the seriousness that it deserves.