Ghana Police Service sets for holistic transformation – IGP

Accra, Dec. 1,  The Ghana Police Service has began a holistic transformation programme aimed at structural Reformation of every stratum of the Service.

This transformation agenda is pivoted on the 13 strategic objectives set by the government of Ghana for the Ghana Police Service, Mr David Asante-Apeatu, the Inspector General of Police said.

He said the Service was striving to actualise its vision of becoming “a World Class Police Service capable of delivering planned, democratic, protective, and peaceful services to the standards of international best practices”.

The IGP sad this in a speech read on his behalf at a day’s workshop for the Service and the Civil Society Organisations under theme “The GPS Transformational Agenda: Facilitating Civil Society Dialogue to enhance Accountability”.

It formed part of European Union funded programme– Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti- corruption Programme (ARAP) designed with the government to support its efforts of institutional reforms to fight corruption.

The programme was to strengthen the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) Unit to ensure discipline and professionalism in police administration, among others.

Mr Asante-Apeatu said the workshop had become necessary because, the transformation agenda of the entire Police Service could not be completed if the various schedules, including PIPS did not pursue their own transformation programmes.

“Our priorities are in the areas of welfare and professionalism development of the officers, revamping the Criminal Investigation Department, emboldening Community Policing, strengthening the PIPS Bureau and adopting proven ICT as the main driver,” he added.

He said he expected that the outcome of the Dialogue workshop would bring out critical responses to the continuous perceived corrupt posture of the Service, adding that “ l have no doubt that with proper realignment and sustained capacity building and right motivation, PIPS will live up to deliver on its core mandate as a department that polices the police”.

Mr Sotiros Bazikamwe, Head of EU Delegation to Ghana, said the agenda was primarily focused on modernisation and automation, with strong citizen oriented principles.

He said corruption was a complex, multidimensional problem, deeply embedded in social, political and economic dynamics.

He noted the complexity of the issue had profound implications for the strategy to adopt.

“Hence, the programme uses multi-level, multi-stakeholders approach, to support national efforts in addressing both the supply and demand side of the accountability and anti-corruption chain,” he said.

Mr Bazikamwe said on the demand side, the focus was on raising awareness for citizens and civil society actors to hold the government to account, to demand more accountability and tolerate less corruption while the effort on the supply side sought to enhance the capacity of the Criminal justice system to be more accountable and transparent and to be better equipped to deal with cases of corruption.

He said prevention and law enforcement was a key element in the fight against corruption, adding that promotion of a culture of ethics, discipline and responsibility within institutions, and among public servants, was a powerful tool to prevent misconduct and corrupt behaviour.

DCOP Timothy Yoosah, Deputy General of PIPS, said the workshop would assist them to share experiences of what people perceived and expected from the police; identify what the police needed to where to focus to change those perceptions, among others.

GNA