‘Sack DCOP Gyening'

A civil society group, Coalition for Truth, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to sack the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Augustine Gyening, and the acting Public Relations Director of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cephas Arthur, for what they describe as ‘inefficiencies’ leading to loss of lives.

They said the recent deaths recorded in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi, was a clear indication of a security breakdown in the metropolis as some of them were carried out in broad day light and in the full glare of residents.

The National Chairman of the Coalition, Kwaku Frimpong told the press in Kumasi that: ‘If criminals can be bold enough to embark on such a mission at noon, then I am sorry there is nothing like security in Kumasi.’

According to the group, they were surprised DSP Arthur and the police administration have been defending the inefficiencies in their system, knowing the emotional trauma residents in Kumasi have been experiencing.

The insecurity notwithstanding, the police PRO has found it more expedient to blame journalists in the region for having blown the series of crimes in the metropolis out of proportion, “even when everybody has seen how dangerous things have become for residents of Kumasi.”

Mr. Frimpong stated that if the region could record about five deaths in just a week, what more could be serious than this knowing the amount of fear and panic this has created among the residents.

In the case of one of the deceased, popularly known as Gawusu, Mr. Frimpong insisted that the police could have prevented his death and maintained law and order since he was on the police wanted list for shooting a National Democratic Congress(NDC) activist during the 2012 electioneering campaign.

He said the police knew where he was living and where they could get him, but refused to arrest him much to the surprise of residents in his area.

‘Gawusu was seen almost every day at Ash Town after the shooting incident last year [2012] so why didn’t the police arrest him, and if they say they did not see him, what then has their Intelligence Unit been up to all this while, this is why we say the regional commander and his men have failed Ashanti,” he affirmed.

He alleged that the crime rate in Ashanti Region has been soaring due to the fact that incompetent people have been put in charge of some units in the regional branch of the service.

He said the coalition was aware of some key changes at some of the units where supposed NDC sympathisers have been asked to head.

That, he noted, accounted for the increasing crime rate in Kumasi.

Though he did not want to mention names, he stated that all policemen in Kumasi were aware that people who did not know much of Ashanti had been put at the helm of affairs and this had contributed to the increasing rate of crime in the metropolis.

For his part, the National Coordinator of the Coalition, Victor Osei Poku, called on the police to display a high level professionalism and not show any political colour in the discharge of their duties.

“It is very sad that these deaths could be recorded within Kumasi alone in less than 10 days. That is why we are appalled at the lies of the Police PRO that Kumasi is safe… as a PRO you are supposed to have full information before you speak that is why we are calling for his replacement,” he added.