Interdicted Detective petitions IGP… Claims he has been handed raw deal

By: Sebastian R. Freiku, Kumasi
Detective Inspector Richard Narh Tettey of the Regional Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service of the Ghana Police Service in Kumasi, who was interdicted by the Ashanti Regional Police Disciplinary Board on April 11, 2012, has challenged the basis of his interdiction.

He has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye, against the purported interdiction, which he says is wrong.

Inspector Tettey has humbly petitioned the Police boss to use his good office to launch full scale independent investigations into the circumstances that led to his official assignment to Manso Kumpese, the subsequent confrontation with senior officers at Manso Nkwanta and Bekwai, and his eventual interdiction on April 11, 2012, after brutalities had been meted out to him in the line of duty.

He suggested that Ashanti Regional Police Command and the local Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) Unit of the Police Service are exempted from the proposed investigation, because he suspects the complicity of some senior officers who are bent on making a scapegoat out of him to cover up their unholy alliance with Chinese nationals in unlawful activities which dent the image of the Police Service.

The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Augustine Gyening, endorsed the interdiction of the embattled detective, accusing him of leading a team of four policemen to perform unlawful duties at Manso Kumpese in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.

It was also stated that Inspector Narh Tettey had been disrespectful to the Manso Nkwanta District Police Commander, Superintendent Mr. Stephen K. Kwakye, and the Bekwai Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Mr. Akomeah Apraku.

According to the Disciplinary Board, Inspector Tettey also behaved unprofessionally and mis-conducted himself towards the named two senior police officers.

But, Inspector Tettey has countered the allegation, saying he has been handed a raw deal, because he was officially assigned on the operation he undertook on March 29.

'My operation is lawful, because the case was referred to me by the Station Officer, Chief Inspector Acquah, as contained in the Diary of Action of Station Diary No. 7 of March 27, 2012 at 8.00 am,' he protested in a petition of April 13, 2012 to the IGP.

Stating his case, Inspector Tettey said on March 27, 2012, the deputy Regional Crime Officer, ASP Mr. Kingsley Aboagye, and the Station Officer, Chief Inspector Acquah, assigned him to investigate a case against some Chinese nationals and some Ghanaians, including one Danso, Akwasi Akropong and others were said to be engaging in illegal mining, and destroying about 250 acres of teak plantation at Manso Kumpese.

The case was booked by one Kofi Adams and Ebenezer Adade as complainants, which was entered as Register of Offence (RO) No. 72/2012.

He said on March 28, 2012, ASP Aboagye instructed him to arrange for four police men from the Buffalo Unit to embark on the operation on March 29, 2012, a result of which Corporal Kofi Abdulai (No. 34591), G/Lance Corporal Godfred Heward (37644), PC Kwabena Boakye (44650) and PC Gabriel Agyapong (46635) were duly redeployed for the operation the next day.

He said on reaching Manso Kumpese at 7.30 a.m. on March 29, 2012, he and his team managed to arrest three Ghanaians and six Chinese nationals engaged in illegal mining in the forest, where about 250 acres of land had been devastated through the activities of the illegal miners, and also seized a Nissan Urvan mini bus with registration number GT 7125-12.

However, some armed policemen intercepted them on their way to Manso Nkwanta, and questioned with which the authority they had arrested of the suspects.

The Detective Inspector of 27 years said at Mim junction, where the road had been barricaded by armed men with AK 47 rifles, and who had lined up along the road, the Manso Nkwanta Police Commander, Supt. Kwakye, who expressed surprise on seeing him, interrogated him amid molestation and name calling.

He said in the ensuing process, he was subjected to severe beatings by colleague policemen at the alleged instance of Supt. Kwakye, and subsequently detained till 12.30 p.m., over four hours, before he was relocated to Bekwai, where he appeared before Chief Superintendent Akomea Apraku.

Inspector Tettey indicated that during his period of detention at Manso Nkwanta, the arrested suspects were freed amid mockery, claiming that they were untouchable, because the local police was on their payroll.

The petitioner explained that the Manso Nkwanta Police Commander had a grudge against him, because he once caused the arrest of an illegal miner in the Manso Nkwanta jurisdiction, to the annoyance of the District Commander, who complained of intrusion.

The said case, which is pending at a Circuit Court in Kumasi, according to Inspector Tettey, was currently being handled by the law office.

It is against this background that Inspector Tettey is looking forward to prompt action and a quick response to his petition, in the name of justice and fair play, to prove his innocence in the face of accusations and available documentary evidence, including video tapes of his operations, which were sighted by The Chronicle.

Copies of the petition were sent to the National Security Advisor, Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah; the National Security Co-ordinator; the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI); Mr. Stephen Amoanoh, a Minister of State at the Presidency; the Minister of the Interior, and the Director General/CID.