UPSA’s Centre for Public Accountability trains senior police officers

The Centre for Public Accountability (CPA) at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has held a day’s training programme for 49 senior police officers at the Ghana Police Command and Staff College in Winneba.

A statement issued by the UPSA and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday said, the training forms part of a four-week programme organised by the College for Assistant Superintendents and Deputy Superintendents of the police service who are due for promotion.

According to Chief Superintendent Oscar Kofi Amevenku, the Director of Studies at the College, the course was intended to build the capacity of the officers in their fields of operation.

The officers were drawn from the administrative, operations and investigation departments from various districts of the country.

Presentations delivered by CPA included the Concept of Accountability; Ghana Public Financial Management Systems; the Financial Laws and Social and Environmental Accountability.

Dr Albert Kan-Dapaah, the Consulting Director of the Centre, said the importance of teaching the concept of accountability is to build upon Ghana’s democratic achievement and empower the citizenry to hold leadership accountable for their stewardship.

"Now that you have knowledge of accountability, you are agents of change, and I charge you to spread the word of accountability to your colleagues when you return to your districts,” Dr Kan-Dapaah stated.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Harrison Katso said: “The presentations on accountability have been an eye-opener and we hope to impart the knowledge we have received here today to our colleagues in our various districts.”

Giving recommendations on how the programme could be further enhanced, ASP Sarah Ekua Acquah said, “The training should be a continuous capacity building programme, so that we, the Police would be abreast with information on various issues in the country.”

The training is the second in the series of the community outreach programmes being organised by the Centre for the Ghana Police Service and other security institutions this year.