Sack IGP – Minority Urges Nana Addo

The Minority in Parliament wants the Inspector General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu, to be sacked over the increasing spate of armed robberies in the country.

Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim, in an interview with Citi News argued that the security situation in the country has worsened under the watch of Mr. Asante-Apeatu as he seems to be doing little to address the problem.

The demand comes at a time when the country has witnessed brazen attacks by armed robbers on companies and individuals in broad daylight.

Mobile money vendors and forex bureaux appear to be most the targeted in the recent operations.

A Lebanese businessman was on Wednesday shot and killed by a group of armed robbers in broad daylight at the Tema Industrial Area after he withdrew some amount of money from a bank. The robbers made away with GH¢200,000 in that operation.

The developments have generated a lot of discussion among the Ghanaian populace, evoking a sense of fear and insecurity among the citizenry.

While the Police have tried to explain that it was doing its best to ensure the safety of citizens, many continue to share their harrowing experiences of armed robbery attacks at their homes and on the streets, and how they feel the police did not do enough to assist them.

Ahmed Ibrahim, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Banda Ahenkro constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region said, it was time for the IGP is replaced with a new police chief.

“Immediately this IGP assumed office, there were cries from other sectors that he might not be able to deliver. And now, with what we are seeing in the country within this short period, even within January and March, it has been worse. If we sit down to be told by the IGP that security is under control, it points to the fact that he himself is not aware of the problem. Therefore once he doesn’t know the problem, he cannot solve it,” the MP said.

“If the IGP is not aware that Policemen are dying, expatriates are dying, businessmen are being attacked, Forex bureaus are being attacked, we are losing investor confidence [its unfortunate]. It looks as if we are retrogressing in terms of security, and therefore the first person to be chased is the Police IGP because he is supposed to be on retirement and they brought him on contract. If you come and contract and you are not bringing anything new on the table, go and a new person will come with new ideas and new policies and the security situation we may be able to bring it under control,” he added.

‘Robbery cases won’t get better soon’

Meanwhile, a security analyst, Dr. Kwesi Aning, has stated that the alarming rate of arm robberies in the country will not improve anytime soon.

In an interview on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, he said, the situation will get much worse before it gets better.

“My point is that many more of this will happen, this is going to get considerably worse before it starts to turn,” he said, adding that the country has not invested enough into its security.

“I have said this the last three years and proven over time that because we have not invested in our law enforcement area, in terms of the manpower, the equipment, and in terms of the fact that we don’t do any crime surveys, that these things will happen and it is coming to pass,” he said.