IGP Must Go! - Public Demands

THE Inspector-General of Police, Mr Patrick Acheampong, must go!

This is the demand made by a cross-section of the people, in a sample of opinion, conducted by a ‘Ghana Palaver’ survey on current affairs, involving the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service in connection with a cocaine scandal.

Although an investigation is being conducted into the whole affair by an “internal committee”, most of the people interviewed, maintained that it is the IGP, who should have first honourably bowed out, before ACP Kofi Boakye, Director of Operations, packed out of office.

According to the survey, the people have little or no credit for the IGP, since he took over office and swore to perform his duty as the Number One Policeman in the country.

First on the list of his “charges” is his failure to ensure a speedy investigation into the random killings of some innocent people by policemen, during his short tenure of office and his clever way of dodging responsibilities and passing the buck on matters, within his armpit to others. Again, the people wonder the sort of image the country is carving for itself, with the whole airwaves filled with stories about the “Police and Cocaine”.

“If, Nigeria, for sometime now has gained notoriety with its “419” scams, then Ghana must be careful not to lose her respect, just retrieved for it through the performance by the Black Stars in the recent World (Soccer) Cup contest in Germany, for it to evaporate and possibly be replaced with the cocaine-tag”, a legal expert said.

In such circumstances, the only way of saving the image of the country, is for every “top man”, whose institution is found to be “deeply involved” in the scandal, to empty his office drawers and leave, some stated, adding:

“To sit pretty in office and polarize the crime, by finding cover-ups, to justify the “friendship” of top policemen, with identified crooks, is untenable in a decent society.

“It is quite in order for the police to fraternalise with the public. But, it must be to some extent.”

Meanwhile, on the same issue, a priest asked whether any person can walk to the IGP’s residence and chat with him, just because his house is open to all. To many, the story has travelled, far enough, for the IGP himself, to know the embarrassment his outfit has been subjected to.

And as the tradition exists, world-wide, the IGP, must go, to save his honour and not wait to be bundled out together with any “rot”, which may be found in his outfit.