Shocker At Police Hqrs....

Hierarchy split over huge contract deal
Dir. of Administration entangled in the net

CHRONICLE Intelligence has uncovered a raging controversy at the National Police Headquarters in Accra over the award of a police contract in which the Director of Police Administration, Mr. Kwesi Nkansa, seemingly stands accused of contract snatching and acerbic dealings.

Even the echelon of the police administration is divided over the manner in which issues regarding the contract have been handled by the Director of Administration.

These disagreements have pitted some of the top hierarchy at the Police Headquarters against each other.

It all started in 2000, when the Police Administration under the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Peter Nanfuri, appealed to the public to assist the police in combating crime.

A budding local advertising company, called Ideas Publicity Ltd., had an idea.

It put together a proposal and landed it on the table of the Police Administration to erect signposts that would bear emergency police telephone numbers.

In his proposal dated June 9, 2000, the director of the company, Mr. Mukaila Akuamoah, stated that "...while appreciating every one of the reasons given for the inability of the police to keep the crime wave under control, the involvement and the co-operation of the general public in volunteering information to the police has been identified as an overriding ingredient to ensuring police control of all kinds of crime."

Under the proposal, the erection of the signposts was to be carried out at no cost to the police service and Ideas Publicity Ltd. was to independently seek funding for the project.

Following this proposal, Ideas Publicity received a letter from the Directorate of Public Relations, Ghana Police Service, stating that the IGP had approved the project and that the company could go ahead to erect the signposts at the various police stations and other police institutions.

The letter dated July 31, 2000, and signed by the director of Public Relations Directorate, Supt. Angwutogbe Awuni, stated that "I have been directed by the Inspector General of Police to inform you that you have been given approval to go ahead with the erection of the signpost bearing Police Emergency Numbers."

"He (IGP) wishes to express the Police Administration's sincerest appreciation for your effort to assist the service to get in constant touch with members of the Public. It is hoped that your effort will help the police track down on the perpetrators of the serial murders and the recent upsurge in armed robbery in the metropolis. It is hoped that in the near future, you would extend the same service to the other crime prone areas of the urban centers." April 25, 2001.

The then Director of Public Relations, Supt. Richard Baduweh, in another letter to the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and copied to the director of Ideas Publicity Ltd. re-emphasized that the new IGP, Mr. Ernest Owusu Poku, had approved the erection of the signposts and that the AMA should give the company the necessary co-operation.

"I have been authorized by the Inspector General of Police to inform you that approval had been given to Ideas Publicity, an advertising company to erect signposts bearing Police Emergency Numbers. I would therefore be very grateful if you could give the said company the necessary assistance to carry out this project."

The writer is Richard Baduweh, immediate past director, Police Public Relations Directorate (PRD).

Following the double approval from the old and the new police administrations, Ideas Publicity then went ahead and solicited for funds from companies that were, among other things, interested in advertising on such signposts.

They then erected several signposts which carried the emergency numbers of the police.

Enter the Director of Police Administration, Mr. Kwasi Nkansa.

On January 17, 2002, Mr. Kwasi Nkansa fired a shocker to the Director of Ideas Publicity Ltd., stating that the erection of the signposts was unauthorized and must cease immediately.

He also ordered Ideas Publicity to remove all the signposts erected around police stations and police institutions within the shortest possible time.

"We regret to inform you that all such signposts erected by the said company (Ideas Publicity Ltd.) near Police Stations and institutions are unauthorized and must therefore cease forthwith. Also, you are obliged to remove all the signposts placed around Police Stations and institutions within the shortest possible time," the letter stated.

Guess what!! Before this shocker was fired at Ideas Publicity, Mr. Kwasi Nkansa and Mr. Avorka of the Police Legal Department had allegedly quietly entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with a rival foreign advertising company, Media Alliance Ltd., and given them the power to take the project from Ideas Publicity.

Two days before Mr. Kwasi Nkansa fired the letter revoking the earlier arrangement with Ideas Publicity, the director of Police Public Relations, Supt. Awuni, who got wind of the move to give the contract to Alliance Media, scribbled a memo dated January 15, 2002 to the Deputy Commissioner/ Administration through the Staff officer to the new IGP.

Mr. Awuni's message was simple - that there was a prior agreement with Ideas Publicity and that the move was unfair.

"My information is that Alliance Media has currently consulted the Police Administration who has directed Ideas Publicity to remove all the sign posts from the city to pave way for Alliance Media to take up the project.

"Let us hint that the directives of the administration which was given via telephone if carried out will attract a lot of negative media comments. For instance, will that not constitute the ploy to kill a local business concern and supplant it with a foreign one in this era of positive change?. I believe this is the impression likely to be created. Couldn't the Police Administration embrace the efforts of the Alliance Media to supplement that of Ideas Publicity? Such directives will not serve the well being of the service if they go public," Supt. Awuni said in his memo.

Among other things, the memo hinted that the immediate past Minister of the Interior, Alhaji Malik Alhasan Yakubu, had been contacted by the management of Ideas Publicity over the project and that the Minister directed them to see the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ernest Owusu Poku, who gave them go-ahead through the then Director of the Police Public Relations, Richard Baduweh.

Chronicle investigation later revealed that Mr. Kwasi Nkansa and Mr. Avorka, contrary to the tenets of transparency and laid-down procedures, exclusively awarded the contract to Alliance Media without giving Ideas Publicity and the other companies the opportunity to bid for the contract.

There was no tender. Meanwhile, Akufo Addo, Prempeh & Co., solicitors for Ideas Publicity Ltd., has written to the Police Administration, saying that Mr. Kwasi Nkansa's letter of January 17, 2002 was oblivious of "a prior agreement" between the Police Service and Ideas Publicity.

"Needless to say that a change in the administration of the service should not repudiate prior undertakings of the service. As a result of direct written representations of the service which our client relied on, our client has made a colossal investment in the project," the lawyers said.

Lawyers for Ideas Publicity also stated, among other things, that they had instructions from their client to put across that "this latest purported somersault from your office is the handiwork of our competitor, Alliance Media who is hell-bent on snatching the job already secured by our client."

According to Akufo Addo & Prempeh and Co., their client was unable to comply with the terms of Mr. Kwasi Nkansa's letter, adding that they were going to put the matter before the IGP and the Minister of the Interior.

Speaking in an interview with the Chronicle, last Thursday, Mr. Kwasi Nkansa, flanked by legal advisor, Mr. Avorka, still maintained that to the best of their knowledge there was no contract or agreement between Ideas Publicity and the Police Service and that the PRD had no right to enter into any agreement with Ideas Publicity.

Mr. Kwasi Nkansa said there is no evidence that proves that the former IGP instructed the PR Department to deal with Ideas Publicity, adding that there should have been a letter from the IGP's department to the PRD.

It is, however, worthy to note that the second directive that was given to Ideas Publicity by the new IGP, Ernest Owusu Poku, was also not put into writing.

At the same time, Mr. Nkansa pleaded innocence to the fact that he was not aware that any such agreement existed between the police and Ideas Publicity and that the PRD had been unable to provide documentation that the instruction came from the IGP.

Mr. Awuni explained in an interview that he had told Mr. Nkansa that the directive was through a phone call.

Mr. Avorka and Mr. Nkansa were unanimous that since the directive from the IGP was not put into writing and routed through their office it was devoid of legal effect.

The Director of Administration further explained that under the new arrangement the police would be paid an amount of ?600,000 per signpost per year.

He said the police had received about ?1.8 million from Alliance Media in respect of erected signposts.

On his part, Mr. Awuni, who initially was hesitant in speaking to the Chronicle until his name was mentioned by Mr. Nkansa, said at that time of the project, the police had no money to do the work and so they were grateful to Ideas Publicity for their gesture.

Supt. Awuni also added that under the previous Police Administration, the PRD was considered the unit responsible for publicity and therefore did not give the schedule to lawyers who would be concerned with what monetary gains the service would get from Ideas Publicity.

"The image of the service and not the monetary gains was paramount in the thinking of the previous administration. Therefore the PRD was tasked verbally to ensure that the emergency numbers were made accessible. This is what the PRD has done. The previous administration recognized the importance of the Public Relations Directorate," he added.

Chronicle spoke to the Director of Ideas Publicity, Mr. Mukaila Akuamoah, who said that he was at a loss for words in describing what was happening and that he found the conduct of Mr. Kwasi Nkansa very strange.

"This man called my office and started yelling at me. He was threatening me saying: 'Hey my friend, you have to remove all the signposts within five days. I asked to see him to explain to him that I had permission from the Police Administration to undertake the project but he won't listen. He said I should remove all the signposts before coming to see him.

"For a man of his age to talk to me like that was very painful. His behaviour was very appalling. He said he did not know that there was a letter anywhere in the office regarding this matter. How did he get my telephone number? Who gave it to him? I don't have my phone number in the telephone directory. If not Alliance Media who gave him my number? How did he know my number?" Mr. Mukaila said.

According to him, Ideas Publicity among other things, had dedicated 5 per cent of every income generated on every signpost to the Crime Foundation in order to help the police fight crime, adding that a percentage was also to be given to the Advertisers Association of Ghana.

"We can make about ?5-6 million on every signpost, so if I am paying 5 per cent on it and some to the Ghana Advertisers Association what is Mr. Nkansah talking about? From all indications it is clear that he had made up his mind to snatch the project for Alliance Media."

Mukaila Akuamoah also said he negotiated with Ghana Telecom to ensure that those emergency numbers that he was going to put on the signposts were reliable in order to build public confidence in using them.

To him, Mr. Kwasi Nkansa for some strange reasons is bent on giving Ideas Publicity a raw deal, because even the current IGP and the immediate past Minister of the Interior both thought it was a good project.

"I went to the new IGP several times. I left samples of the artwork and that is when he gave the go-ahead to Mr. Baduweh to assist us in the project," he rested his case.