Recruitment fraud: IGP rejects independent investigation

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Alhassan has declined requests for an independent inquiry into the recent police recruitment fraud that hit the Ghana Police Service.

A top police officer, COP Patrick Timbilla who is in charge of police Human Resource and Administration was implicated by the task force investigating the fraudulent recruitment exercise. He was subsequently interdicted on the orders of the Inspector General of Police.

His implication has further heightened public suspicion of the involvement of the administration in the scam, necessitating calls for independent investigations into the matter.

Security analyst Dr. Kwesi Aning of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre was the first to call for such an inquiry, which he believes would help the administration “ reclaim the credibility that it deserves ”.

After meeting Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, who is the chairman of the Police Council, IGP Mohammed Alhassan told the media the administration has capable personnel to undertake internal service inquiries.

The police is already investigating the matter and the IGP assured the public that the investigators will do an “impartial job”, Joy News Beatrice Adu reported.

Interior Minister, Mark Woyongo, has revealed he got wind of the fraudulent recruitment exercises at the Ghana Police Service some four months ago.

He told host of Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Kojo Yankson, in an exclusive interview, that he discovered the scam in December last year when he visited the Northern Region for holidays.

Meanwhile, a legal practitioner Samson Lardy Anyenini is questioning the preferential treatment being given COP Timbilla, when others involved in the scandal have been arrested and are being held in police custody.