Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Thursday October 11, 2012.
STANDARDS
IN the police service are waning at an alarming rate, some retired security
personnel have stated in apparent reaction to the Ayalingo retirement debacle.
Speaking
individually and on condition of anonymity they said they were at their wits’
end over why for instance retirement and contracts had become burning political
issues in an internal security organization which should be by all means be
apolitical.
These
anomalies coming close to elections according to the retirees, was not good for
the public confidence and had the potential of lowering morale.
Personnel
are currently watching to see what will happen after it emerged that some
senior police officers were still at post in spite of reaching the retirement
age.
Currently,
there appears to be disquiet among personnel over the way the Police Council was
handling retirement issues given the varying of the conditions that accompany
it.
Under
the Police Service Act, an officer who has reached the age of 60 is supposed to
go on mandatory retirement but it appears the Inspector-General of Police, Paul
Tawiah Quaye is powerless to effect this as officers like Robert Adibura
Ayalingo, Peter Alex Wiredu, Hamidu Mahama, all Deputy Commissioners of Police
(DCOPs) are all still at post even though they have crossed the retirement age.
Daily
Guide sources say that two other officers, DCOP Timothy Aquarnor Ashiley who is
due to retire in November and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Alex Bedie due
for retirement in December, were also most likely to remain in office.
Furthermore,
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Richmond Nii Ashitey Lomo Boi-Bi-Boi believed
to be the in-law of the IGP who was supposed to retire in July was given an
appointment at the United Nations.
According
to a Daily Guide source, an officer who has reached the retirement age but has
been contracted by the service is not supposed to wear uniform and is again,
supposed to go down one notch in ranking but all the affected officers are
still enjoying their portfolios.
To
make matter worse, the retiring officers are the ones who have been given
sensitive positions and one is even believed to be in charge of recruitment at
the service.
Another
issue affecting morale in the service is the way and manner ethnocentric
considerations are robbing the Service of professionalism and discipline.
For
instance at the Criminal Investigations Department, the top three commanders
are from one region even though the source said “Admittedly, there is no quota
system in the service.”
“With
a large pool of junior officers currently in the service, the rationale for
extending the services of retiring officers has become questionable since it
does not make room for elevation,” the source added.
“While
senior officers like CDOPs Ofosu-Menash Gyeabuor and Seth Charles Oteng were
forced out even before their terminal leaves expired, their colleagues are
still at post.”
According
to the source, about 3,000 recruits who have passed out from the various police
training schools are said to have been kept and would be released when the
December elections is due.
The
Ghana Police Service is peopled with a new crop of personnel with some of them
in the lower echelon holding university degrees and diplomas and therefore
primed with critical analytical minds.
Admission
into the Police College too has not been spared the excessive politics which
has permeated the Police as some of these young men and women must be favoured
before they can gain admission. The outcome of the crisis meeting which greeted
the BA meeting over Robert Ayalingo will determine whether professionalism can
prevail over parochial politics in the Police Service.
A
cynic remarked “what special skills do officers like Robert Ayalingo and Hamidu
Mahama have which others lack that they must be retained for Election 2012.”
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