The Dispatch

The Dispatch in its front page comment headlined: "Rawlings does not respect Police Service", says President Jerry Rawlings' reference to the report of the Justice Archer Presidential Commission into the Police Service last Thursday, was the last straw that "made us decide to run this piece". The paper questions whether the President needs a commission to tell him that the clothing allowance of 12 cedis for police detectives, instituted since 1975/76, is outdated and ridiculous. The paper says there is little doubt, if any, that President Rawlings has on many occasions, expressed his concern for the poor working conditions of the Police but "do mere words rectify these conditions?". The Dispatch says the last Thursday's state opening of the Third Session of Parliament, provided another opportunity for the President to, as usual, pay lip service to the Police. "We hope to publish the report of the Justice Archer Presidential Commission into the Police Service very soon. That will form the basis for the reorganisation and modernisation of the Police Service with particular emphasis on accommodation and logistics support", he is quoted as saying. The paper says however that research has shown that whe Ghana population was 12 million, there were a little over 20,000 police personnel. Now that the population is over 18 million, the size of the police has dwindled to just over 16,000 personnel. According to the Dispatch in 1998, the Service was allocated 56.3 billion cedis to cater for the salaries for the over 16,000 personnel, pay for the usage of 492 phone lines, expenses (fuel and maintenance) on operational vehicles and the 622 police stations in the country. "The Dispatch is not holding brief for the inadequacies in the Police Service but the truth is that the government has just not done enough. The President is waiting for the Justice Archer Commission report in order to do away with the 22-year-old ridiculous detective clothing allowance".