"I welcome investigations" -Police Commander

THE interdicted Central Regional Police Commander, Mr Yaw Adu-Gyimah, has welcomed investigations into allegations levelled against him.

He, however, appealed to the Police Administration to fast track the investigations to establish “my innocence or otherwise”.

Speaking in an interview, he said he has abandoned plans to challenge the interdiction and embraced the investigations because “this is the price I have to pay to get my name cleared”.

Throwing light on the circumstances under which he was transferred and interdicted, Mr Adu-Gyimah said somewhere towards the end of July, he was invited by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku, who told him of the decision to transfer him to Cape Coast.

“When I wanted to know the reason, I was not told anything but told to report at Cape Coast within 72 hours.”

According to Mr Adu-Gyimah, he subsequently petitioned the President to know the reason for his transfer to Cape Coast.

He said by the middle of August, he received a response to his petition from the Secretary to the President who gave the assurance that concerns raised in his petition would be addressed.

He added that after waiting for 10 weeks, he decided on October 7, to send a reminder to the President but surprisingly the next day: “I had a letter from the IGP saying that “You have been interdicted as a result of serious allegations levelled against you and a special investigative team is to be constituted to look into your case”.

Mr Adu-Gyimah described his present predicament as “unfair and unjust because as a senior man at headquarters, I was removed from my schedule without cause and as if that was not enough, I have now been interdicted.

He expressed gratitude to the President for his concern to get to the bottom of the matter, adding that but for “my petition, I believe the smear campaign against me which are not based on facts but on falsehood, would have continued in the media.”

He said it was not his intention to go public on the matter after the petition to the President but was forced to clear his name when the Police Public Relations Director alleged on a radio station that he had been interdicted because of alleged support for armed robbers.

Meanwhile, the Director of Police Public Relations, Mr Angwubutoge Awuni, has denied ever saying that Mr Adu-Gyimah and Mr H. A. Yakubu have been interdicted for supplying AK 47 rifles to armed robbers and that cases of armed robbery have been found to be on the increase anywhere the two officers are posted to.

“I wish to state that I have never said any of what is attributed to me to any media house,” a statement issued by Mr Awuni stated.

The statement, however, confirmed that following certain serious allegations, including giving cover to armed robbers, have been made against them.

“I wish to keep on record that those attributions made to me have put me in a very embarrassing position and hope they would be retracted accordingly,” it added.

In a related development, the Inspector General of Police, Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku has stated that Mr Adu-Gyimah’s transfer to the Central Region is not a demotion, reports Albert K. Salia.

According to him, transfers are purely internal and administrative matters and one is sent anywhere one’s services are needed most.

On why Mr Adu-Gyimah has been interdicted, he said, certain allegations were made against him which needed to be investigated.

He said the normal thing done in the service is to interdict you for a committee to investigate the allegations to establish the truth or otherwise of the allegations.

When asked what the allegations were, Mr Owusu-Poku said it is bad for such allegations to be made public when they have not been proven.

The IGP said it is only when the committee has finished with its work that a statement would be issued indicating the allegations and the findings of the committee.

“Until then, it would be inappropriate to make such allegations public since they could be false,” he stressed.