The Kinapharma Saga - Police Owe No Apology

Yaw Adu-Poku — D-G of the CID

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service yesterday defended its action in the “Kinapharma saga” and claimed that it was performing its legitimate duty when it arrested and detained some officials of the pharmaceutical company last Thursday.

Addressing the media in Accra yesterday, the Director-General of the CID, DCOP Yaw Adu-Poku, also denied that the police had been the source of the story carried in the Friday, December 11, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic and indicated that he was out to set the record straight.

Flanked by the top brass of the Police Administration, including the Director-General in charge of Operations, DCOP John Kudalor, and the Director in charge of CID Operations, ACOP Robert Ayalingo, the Director-General of the CID made the point that “the police are on no collision course with the Daily Graphic and for that matter any media house but the record must be set straight”.

He rooted his denial in his own assertion that the Daily Graphic publication of December 11, 2009 contained “factual errors which re-enforce the position that the information did not come from a credible source and for that matter from the CID Headquarters”.

To further illustrate his point, DCOP Adu-Poku stated that “only two officials from Kinapharma were arrested and not three, as contained in the publication.

Besides, the Accra Regional Police Headquarters played a very important role in the whole operation that culminated in the arrest of the officials but they were conspicuously left out”.

“Later publications quoted the source at the CID Headquarters that gave the subsequent information but so far the publication was not authorised by the police,” he stated, and called on the media to always behave as professionals in whatever field of endeavour they found themselves.

“We need to be circumspect in our reportage; we need to listen to the two sides; we need to ensure that our sources are credible and we need to ensure that we are sensitive to the position of the other side,” DCOP Adu-Poku professed.

Citing Article 14 of the Constitution, he said the operation which culminated in the arrest of the officials was legally justified and asked, “If the source of the information did not come from the police, do we owe the Kinapharma officials and for that matter the company any apology as being demanded?”

He said the police were enjoined by law to conduct any operation on reasonable suspicion and on reasonable grounds and that was exactly what they did.

He said the Ghana Police Service was a noble institution and a disciplined one, for that matter, adding, “We are always ready to admit our faults and mistakes when established. We have done it in several instances and we are prepared to do it this time round if we are at fault.”

“But we are unable to apologise because we believe there is no basis for any apology and our conduct, as far as the Kinapharma issue is concerned, was handled professionally. It was not capricious and it was not malicious,” DCOP Adu-Poku insisted.

He said several theories had been put forward in the media and other discussions that there was a syndicate, including the police, which was out to tarnish the name and image of the company in the eyes of the public, both locally and internationally, and stressed that no such syndicate existed.

“And if it does exist, the police should be counted out of it,” he pointed out.

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