Let’s cherish and value our own instead of these wild vilifications

The word vilification means the act of saying or writing un­pleasant things about some­one or something in order to cause other people to have a bad opinion of them. An act of vilification is capable of inciting hatred, ill-will and disaffection towards someone or attempting to destroy a repu­tation by open and direct abuse. Such behaviour is so offensive and cannot be tolerated whatsoever in a society which seeks the welfare of its people.

OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR

There are situations where people considered to be your own brother, friend , family member or companion will smile at you, eat and drink with you, interact with you more often and frequently, work in a friendly and cordial at ­mosphere with you and above all, do everything with you in common, but inwardly, that person will be pretentious and doing all these things for fun as he or she hates you and have no regards for you whatsoever. That is nature and we must be on guard to fish and flush out for such pretenders.

I have decided to go on this tangent because of what is hap­pening in the Ghana Police Service (GPS) in recent times in which the Inspector General of Police, the overall boss of the Ghana Police Service is being willfully maligned, attacked, accused and vilified by his own senior police officers for no apparent reasons.

COMMITTEE TO PROBE THE LEAKED TAPE

On Tuesday, July 11, 2023, a leaked audio recording, allegedly involving a Police Commissioner and a politician discussing a plot to remove the IGP, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare from office circulated on social and the traditional media. Consequently, the Minority Caucus in Parliament, called for a probe into the leaked tape. The Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin in his wisdom, constituted a seven-member bi-par­tisan Committee to authenticate the audio and probe into the se ­cret recording of an alleged plot to remove the IGP from office ahead of the 2024 general election. The committee which started its work on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, was mandated to report back to the House on September 10, 2023, but that had not been successful due to on-going investigation.

AGGRIEVED POLICE OFFICERS IN COURT

It appears that there is a pend ­ing court case involving some 82 aggrieved police officers who have sued the Attorney General, the GPS and the IGP for acting unfairly and capriciously concerning the failure of the service to promote them. According to them they were due for promotions after the comple­tion of their studies, through the study leave with pay policy, of the service, but they were yet to be promoted several months after the completion of their studies. Since the matter is still pending, I do not want to go into the merits and de ­merits of the case to avoid conflict with the law.

What is more worrying and dis­turbing is the personal attacks on the competence and integrity of the IGP by the three senior officers – COP George Alex Mensah, Superin­tendents George Asare and Gyebi, who had earlier testified before the committee with wild allegations against their boss which necessitat­ed the invitation of the IGP by the committee chaired by Samuel At­ta-Akyea (NPP), Member of Parlia­ment for Abuakwa South with James Agalga (NDC), MP for Builsa North as his vice. So far so good.

IGP BEFORE THE COMMITTEE

When the IGP appeared before the committee on Tuesday, Sep­tember 12, 2023, it was emotion­ally stricken but astute policeman that he is, he was able to control his emotions as he tried to defend himself against the wild allegations that have been levelled against him by his own officers in the service. His initial comments were so sor­rowful and indeed heart- troubling. After initial argument between his legal team and the committee that the three senior police officers who have levelled allegations against their client should not sit through the IGP’s testimony, the chairman overruled that objection with the view that their presence was not in any way going to be injurious to the IGP and that they would not be allowed to interject in the proceed­ings at any point in time. When cool atmosphere was established, the IGP, flanked by his lawyers and with the support of senior manage­ment of the Ghana Police Service, set the ball rolling with his initial comments after the chairman had asked him whether he had listened to the tape in question.

INITIAL COMMENTS BY IGP

Hear the IGP; “Honourable Chair, thank you and thank you to the members of the committee. I will like to say that Hon. Chair, if you will permit me, I will like to make a few opening remarks. Honourable Chair, there have been a lot of is ­sues about my person and I will like toi take the opportunity to speak to a few of them, for about the next three to five minutes”. Honestly the two to five minutes remarks travelled about 20 minutes without interruption. He spent most of his time talking about his family mat­ters and his upbringing, academic achievement, Christian background, where he was raised during infan­cy, how friendly he has been to friends and colleagues and indeed, giving explanations, clarifications, debunking the allegations that had been made about his person and the police service under his leadership. He ended up by saying, “honour­able Chair, I am here, being asked to answer to wild, unsubstantiated allegations by my brothers, in order to cover up their shame. I am ready, thank you.”.

PAINFUL AND HEART-BREAKING

It was so painful and heart-break­ing to me and many others who were glued to their television sets to watch and listen the chief executive of our national security apparatus – Ghana Police Service pouring out issues he claimed he knew nothing about. Right now, it is left to the committee to weigh the IGP’s testimonies against that of his accusers- the three senior po ­lice officers and establish the truth in the allegations

PROTECTING POLICE INTEGRITY

This particular encounter, has brought to the fore the need for people to appreciate hard work and tenacity of purpose, respect for authority in spite of political dif­ferences and no matter where one finds himself or herself because the future is unknown. We should not allow politics to divide our ranks and create disaffection and hatred for ourselves. It is important to bid our time and wait for the opportu ­nity to show up.

Let us remember that the Ghana Police Service is a noble institution established by law to protect and safeguard the lives of the people and ensure that they move about freely. It is an institution that de ­mands confidence and respect from the people and therefore if officers from that institution do not have confidence in its leadership, then we are doomed as a country. The service must therefore be freed of politics to enable the institution to operate effectively.

Contact email/WhatsApp of au­thor:

ataani2000@yahoo.com

0277753946/0248933366

By Charles Neequaye