Mustapha Hamid's Open Letter To Paul Quaye

Dear Sir,

Congratulations on your appointment as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for the Republic of Ghana! Somehow I had a hunch that you will be made IGP contrary to media speculations about certain names that did not include you. My conviction stemmed from what I had been told about you by the Hon. Mahami Salifu (former Upper East Regional Minister under the Kufuor administration).

You were the Regional Commander at the time that Mahami Salifu was the Upper East Regional Minister. In a chance discussion about fine police officers, Mahami Salifu told me that as far as he is concerned, you would be the best candidate for the position of IGP. He spoke about your diligence, hard work, commitment, honesty and integrity. Indeed he went as far as to say that he has worked with and encountered several police officers and he thought you were unmatched.

Several weeks later, I met with a former school mate of mine who works directly under you at the Police Headquarters. He is Vance Baba Gariba. At the time of our meeting, I did not know that he worked under you. I simply asked him if he knew Paul Quaye. He answered in the affirmative and added that he worked directly under you. He went on to corroborate everything Mahami Salifu had said about you. He said far more positive things than Mahami Salifu had said. In his view you are “a police man's police man”.

You can therefore imagine my excitement when I heard that you were the one named to replace Elizabeth Mills Robertson. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that based on the recommendations that I have had about you, you will bring a new face to the Ghana Police Service.

As an experienced police man I am sure you know that the image of Ghana's police service is nothing to write home about. I am not even talking about the allegations of bribery that the public often accuses our police of. I am here talking about down right ineptitude and incompetence. I will give you a few instances to substantiate.

The attack on Ursula Owusu's house a few days ago: A few days ago, three young men launched what was the third straight attack on Ursula Owusu's family house in Dansoman. It was about 3:00am. They consistently banged on the gate while shouting out Ursula Owusu's name to come out or for that matter any men if there were any in the house.

Ursula's sisters called her to inform her. She advised them to call the police. Neighbours were obviously too scared to come out. It took the Dansoman police nearly two hours to arrive. They however managed to arrest one of them. In the morning, Ursula went to the police station to see the arrested man and asked him what he wanted in her house. He went on incoherently about how his Zain phone was not working properly.

Ursula pointed out to him that first of all, she no longer works with Zain and secondly that if his Zain phone was not functioning properly, the solution was not to come to her family house to cause a nuisance. She then left and came back later only to be told by insolent junior police men that the guy had been released under the orders of a senior police officer.

When Ursula contacted the police officer, he confirmed that he indeed had ordered the release of the guy because he thought that the guy was insane. I personally heard the police officer on Joy Fm confirming the fact that he thought the guy was insane. According to him the guy submitted a psychiatric report to him that suggested that he was insane. I was livid.

Mr. IGP is it the case that a police officer can on his own determine the sanity or otherwise of a suspect? I always thought that the standard practice is for the police to put the suspect before court. If the suspect's lawyer pleads insanity on his behalf, then the court asks for a psychiatric examination. Even if the psychiatric report confirms that the suspect is in fact insane, the court then recommends that he be put away in a psychiatric facility if indeed he is found guilty of the offence.

Psychiatric patients belong to a psychiatric facility. They are not let loose to go on harassing citizens at 3:00am on account of their insanity. Besides how does an insane person determine his own insanity and proceed to produce a psychiatric report to buttress his point? Can such a fellow really be deemed to be insane? Mr. IGP you should work on the competence and basic common sense of your officers and men.

The second example I have to give you is that of the attack on my brother Majeed Iddrisu. Majeed is the Greater Accra Regional Manager of Zain. Last week, he parked wrongly some where in Accra and his car duly clamped. When he came to move his car, he was duly sent to the offices of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly where he paid the fine of 50 Ghana Cedis.

At the offices of the AMA, a little argument ensued between Majeed and the police men. In the course of the exchanges, one of them told his colleague: “Don't mind him. He is a northerner, which is why he is arguing with us; northerners are unruly and have no understanding and common sense”. Majeed took exception to his comments and requested that he apologises for his comments.

He not only refused to apologise, but he proceeded to assault Majeed. Majeed duly made a report to the James Town police. The CID in charge at the James Town Police Station was in charge of the case. Mr. IGP I heard him (the CID man) on Joy FM also saying that the police men and City Guards involved in the assault of Majeed were unwilling to co-operate. Indeed Majeed had been issued with a police report form and visited a hospital where it was confirmed that he had indeed been assaulted.

Mr. IGP do you teach your recruits at the Police College that if a suspect refuses to co-operate then there is nothing else a police investigator can do? Does the cracking of a case depend solely on the willingness of a suspect to co-operate? Mr. IGP you have a lot to do regarding the basic competence of your men.

Cold Case resolutions: Mr. IGP you need to work on the ability of your men and women to resolve cold cases. In Ghana once the police fail to resolve a crime within reasonable period, they shelve it and shelve it for good.

The Cold Case Unit of your service is about three years old. To this day they have not been able to resolve a single cold case. Cold case resolutions are important because they send a signal to criminals that they will be caught no matter how long it takes. And that certainly is a disincentive to commit crime.

In other jurisdictions, cases as old as thirty years are resolved. My favourite channel on DSTV is the Crime and Investigation Channel. There is a particular programme called Cold Case Files in which cold cases are brought alive everyday and closures found.

On the 6th of May 2001, my friend John Garrett was murdered in his home in the Akwapim Mountains. John Garrett was the Chief Executive of Manor House. John Garrett was British and came to Ghana specifically to set up and do business. His death sent shivers down the spine of the business community. At that time the Hon, Kwamena Bartels was the Minister for Private Sector Development. He promised that the police were going to do all in their capacity to bring the culprits to book.

To this day, nothing has been heard about that investigation. Indeed I am not sure that the Ghana Police will ever crack the case of Garrett's murder. There are perhaps more of such unresolved cases.

Mr. IGP, there are perhaps a thousand and one complaints that the Ghanaian people have about our police service. These include bribery, corruption, stealing, incompetence, inefficiency, extortion and many more.

Indeed you need to do a serious over hauling of the service if the citizens of Ghana are to ever feel confident that they have a police service that can keep them save and sound. As I stated in the beginning of this letter, those who have had opportunity to work with you are very sure of your competence as a police officer. But whether or not your competence will permeate the service is another matter.

Welcome to the hot seat Paul Quaye. At the end of your tenure, we want to remember you as the IGP who brought the greatest reforms to the Ghana Police Service. Good luck!

Originating at mustaphamid.net