‘IGP Needs Tenure Security’ – Ex-CID Boss

Former Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, COP Bright Oduro is advocating a fixed term of office for the country’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) to prevent political influences.

He was of the view that the IGP will have the power to institute reforms to change policing in the country without fear of being victimised if his tenure is constitutionally secured.

“As for the politics, it should be completely out…I think a team was constituted to go round the country somewhere in 2012 to solicit views. We had the chance to also speak [with the Constitution Review Commission] and they took our views and almost unanimously we said that the position of the IGP should never be politicised. They should have security of tenure so that they will be bold enough to implement some of the decisions and programmes,” he told Moro Awudu on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Thursday, February 1.

He said: “When governments change, definitely the IGP is insecure, he is removed because he was put there by the previous regime and then the new IGP comes and then a lot of transfers are made and so on. People are transferred to areas where they may not be competent enough; they bring in their own favourites and so on”.

He was of the belief that the police institution will be more effective if there is a stable head.

COP Bright Oduro’s comments come in the wake of several challenges that have bedeviled the service recently, including an increase in attacks on law enforcement officers.

For him, logistics of the police are woefully inadequate, prosecution is slow and the level of political influence is too much.

For his part, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Brig. Gen. Nunoo Mensah, who was also a guest on the show, condemned “the habit of firing people anyhow”.

He stated that: “The Police is an institution of state as well as the military. Even if the president is allowed under the constitution to appoint the Chief of Defence Staff or the IGP, he needs to appoint the right person to serve the state and not the government. You are a servant of the state not a political party in power and if they are doing their jobs well, we should learn to leave them alone to serve the state. This should apply to every institution”.

Source: ClassFMonline