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Police Service a bit too lazy to carry out background checks on personnel – Dr. Norman
The President of the Institute of Security Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr. Ishmael Norman, has accused the Ghana Police Service of being ‘a bit too lazy’ in keeping an eye on their personnel after recruitment.
According to him, the failure of the Service to monitor the activities and lifestyles of its members has enabled criminal elements within to flourish and fester.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday, he noted that the Ghana Police Service has all the needed capacity to run background checks on their recruits and members, however, they have failed to do so.
“The Police has the mechanism, the modalities to do background check. So the recruitment process itself is a very normal way of recruiting mass groups of people. After you do the recruitment then you have to do the background check. This is what is missing.
“Even though they have the capacity, they have the modality, they have the organization to do the background check, they are a bit too lazy to do that job and so the professionalism that we expected the recruitment part of the police, the department to do, they have failed Ghanaians,” he said.
He was speaking in relation to the arrest and indictment of 6 police officers in the ongoing bullion van investigations.
Dr. Norman believes the 6 arrested might only be the tip of the iceberg of organized criminal gangs within the Police Service.
According to him, an independent investigation into the Police force starting from the Inspector General of Police to the lowest rank would unravel many skeletons and rid the Service of criminal elements.
Again, he stated that even though it is possible that criminal gangs have infiltrated the Police force through recruitment, it is also very possible that some of these criminal elements were only recruited into the gangs after entering the Service.
“I think it’s two sides of the same coin. Some of them might have been weaponised within the Police. If I’m doing operation and I see energetic, willing guys, crazy guys, I’ll pick them and then indoctrinate them to do it. And if they are already criminals I will also pick them. I think what is happening here is that we cannot really blame everything on the recruitment process,” he said.
“But if in fact they became weaponised while they were in the force, then it doesn’t matter if before they came to the police force they were preachers, men of God, men of mosque, Imams, and then when they got into the police force the attractions, the promises of windfall, the gaps within the police, the disciplinary issues within the police and there are huge disciplinary issues within the police,” he added.
Dr. Norman has thus called for a closer look at the Police’s own approach at surveilling its members in order to weed out corruption and crime from within.
“But let us not blame it on the recruitment. Let us look at what the Police does in order to surveil its own force. Let us see whether they test them for drug use. Let us see whether they spy on them for those that have all of a sudden they’re earning maybe 4,000 cedis a month but they’re driving a $150,000 vehicle or a 150,000 cedi vehicle then you have to know that these people are into some nefarious activities,” he said.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank
A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.
The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.
The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.
The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.
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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.
He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.
“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.
He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.
He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.
“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
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