Police chiefs angry

Elizabeth Mills-Robertson Hundreds of Chief Inspectors and Inspectors across the country, who have dedicated their lives to the enforcement of law, have expressed their frustration and anger at what they call; ongoing injustice and clear discrimination being perpetrated in the service.

The petition comes in the in the wake of the death of Chief Inspector Godfred Addai, whose promotion was communicated to his family two days after the service had been informed of his death.

They have therefore called on the Minister of Interior; Cletus Avoka who is the President's representative at the ministry, to use his good office to ensure that fairness is upheld, adding that they too could suffer a similar fate if the system is not purged.

In a petition to President Mills, at least 54 of the aggrieved Chief Inspectors who have served for close to 40 years in the police,said two long years after they passed promotion examinations to become Assistant Superintendants of Police (ASPs), those in charge have remained completely silent about it.

They contended that while it is the wish of every serious-minded police officer to rise through the ranks and access better emoluments and retirement benefits, their superior officers are rather discouraging that spirit.

According to them, some 120 of them who took a promotion examination as far back as June 29, 2006, were declared successful via a circular No. SO/G.1/60.A/VOL.9/162 dated September 15, 2006 and was listed among the core cadet course 41 into the Police College.

They said to their utter dismay, the list of 120 was sidelined and 'Nicodemously' replaced with a strange one that had no basis; a situation they see as unprofessional.

“Most surprisingly and much against the dictates of the aforementioned circular, the Police Administration came out with a different list made up of their favourites. This, they tried to legitimize with the addition of a few persons on the original list to form the cadet course 41. They have since been trained and posted,” the petition stressed.

They lamented that two and a half years down the lane, nothing had been heard from the police administration, neither has any reason been assigned, adding that a number of them had suffered from disappointment and trauma.

“Your humble petitioners have suffered from injustice and greatly traumatized by that single act of favouritism shown by the Police Administration. Consequently most of our colleagues have retired and gone home without achieving their lifetime expectations of becoming Senior Police Officers. Their hopes have been dashed through no fault of theirs and if steps are not taken to address the concerns, many of us would retire under similar conditions”.

All efforts to reach the Director of Police Public Relations, DSP Kwesi Ofori, have been futile but sources at the Police Headquarters told the paper that such discriminatory practices are rampant in the police service.

Referring to the case of the aggrieved, the source hinted that out of the 120 affected officers, Chief Inspectors Abraham Ackapolley Anno, Samuel Naa Musah, Reindorf Agyeman and Ernestina Asare were picked to join course 40, while Chief Inspectors Dickson Seth Darkey, James Bessaw, Godwin Daniel and Francis Anthony Kuetsinya joined course 41.

The source described all those chosen as some of the cronies of former Inspector-General of Police, Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong.

“Ernestina Asare, for instance was the 70th person on the chart, but was selected against some of us, simply because she belonged to the Police Council and was close to those at the top,” the officer revealed.

By Bennett Akuaku