I'LL PURGE POLICE PRESIDENT KUFOUR PLEDGES (Lead Story)

21/06/08
Story: Mary Mensah
President J.A. Kufuor has pledged to clean up the Ghana Police Service and purge it of the cocaine controversies that have stigmatised the institution lately.
He noted that the image of the Police Service had been brought into disrepute by the questionable handling of narcotic cases but commended the men and officers for the high professionalism displayed during the country’s 50th anniversary celebration, the African Union Summit, African Nations Cup tournament and the 12th UNCTAD conference.
The President was addressing the 41st cadet officers graduation at the Police College in Accra yesterday.
To regain their dignity in the eyes of the public, the President urged all personnel of the service to resolve to expose the bad lot in their ranks, whom he said were tarnishing the hard-won image of the service.
Commending the police for their good work during the international events hosted by Ghana, the President said, “The Police Service was at its best in all these landmark occasions and this should convince the nation of the great potential of the service,” adding that the government would go to all ends to help the service to realise and sustain that potential to underpin the law and order of the country.
Reflecting on the state of the service eight years ago when he assumed office, President Kufuor indicated that the entire service stood at 15,983 in a country with a population of about 22 million and that worked out to a ratio of 1,126 people to one policeman.
The President said over the past seven and a half years the strength of the police had been increasing steadily to the current 22,313, which had improved the ratio to one policeman to 994 citizens, bringing Ghana closer to achieving the UN standard of one policeman for every 500 individuals.
He said additionally, police divisions had increased from 30 to 54, police districts from 140 to 188 and police stations from 626 to 675, adding that the government’s goal was to extend the services of the police to the remotest communities in the country.
The President indicated that the government appreciated the enormity of the accommodation problems facing the service and hinted that substantial investments were already being made to provide residential accommodation in many of the barracks.
He added that the government was engaged with some companies in designing modern and suitable barracks for service personnel in strategic areas in the cities and that in the course of this year, an agreement would be reached for the actual implementation of the housing policy.
Other policies, one for the provision of vehicles, communication gadgets and modern office equipment, he said, had already been approved by Cabinet.
President Kufuor said in pursuance of the policy of modernising the service and making it more efficient, the government hads adopted a programme to standardise the vehicles and models that were suitable for the nation’s security services, taking into account the terrain, durability and maintenance.
“There must be no room for the violation of the rules and regulations of the service. This is what the nation expects you, the graduating cadet officers, to uphold and your conduct should reflect the quality of training you have received at this college,” he said.
In all, 135 cadet officers and two officer cadets passed out from the college after six months’ training.
The overall best cadet award went to Cadet Officer Charles Asiamah Agyei.