To be an Inspector General of Police in Ghana is no mean achievement. One might have gone through all the crooked ways in the police service to reach the position of Inspector General of Police and for that matter should be commended, revered and be celebrated especially when one is about leaving the office for retirement. It’s a span of dedicated life, sacrifice and commitment to the police service and the good people Ghana.
The risks and near deaths situations that one might have gone through leaves a lot to be desired. One ends up wasting over 30 years of precious life in the police only to be driven away like chicken when it’s time to leave office, all because of the way things are done in the police coupled with political machinations and interests.
I am still young in the police but as young as I am, I have seen the tenures of 5 Inspector Generals of Police since 2008 that I joined the police service. From Mr. Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong to Madam Elizabeth Mills Robinson, to Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, to Mr. Mohammed Alhassan and now to Mr. John Kudalor. One may argue that Madam Elizabeth Mills Robinson only acted and was never an IGP but she still held the office of the Inspector General of Police so it makes no difference. All these Inspector Generals of Police only appeared as their appointments were accompanied by massive media publications and public notices. All of them, apart from the serving Inspector General of Police, they disappeared from the office after their tenures office were over. They left the police on a very quiet note.
I am very sure apart from internal hand-over done inside the police headquarters, nothing meaningful is done to bid them farewell. They come to office like heroes and leave the office like thieves in the night. Should that be the case? At least some proper handing over ceremonies should be conducted for these people who served the police service and mother Ghana in diverse ways accompanied by parades conducted in their honour and eventually pulled out from office colourfully, ceremonially and beautifully.
A proper send-off ceremony should be conducted for the the out going Inspector Generals of Police to enable them thank the police service and the good people of Ghana for giving them the opportunity to serve them in their capacities as police officers and above all, rise to the highest office of the police service as Inspector Generals. They should be given the opportunity to make amends with the people they might have offended in the course of discharging their duties as police officers particularly their fellow police officers through speeches during their send-offs. They then wish the police service well and ask for prayers from the members of service and loved ones as they leave public life to a private one.
The incoming Inspector General of Police then takes over and thanks the outgoing Inspector General of Police through a speech. Elaborate his vision for the police service and what he intends to do to improve the better, and lots of members of the police service. Other distinguished personalities like the president or the vice president could as well as the interior minister also thank the outgoing Inspector General of Police through speeches for the service rendered to the police service in particular and the good people of Ghana in general.
At the close of the ceremony, the outgoing Inspector General of Police is pulled from office as he waves members of the police service he is leaving behind and that should be the end for a life well lived in the police service but not the situation whereby outgoing Inspector Generals of police leave the office very disgruntled and care less about whatever that occurs in the police as they go on retirement forgetting that once a police is always a police . As the time they may be leaving the office, there is a political pressure on them to pack bag and baggages to leave at an ultimatum. The incoming IGP is so excited to takeover from the outgoing IGP forgetting that the same thing would be done to him when it’s time to leave the office.
The last time I took part of pull out ceremony was when DCOP/Mr David Ampa Benin was transferred from the Volta Region as the regional commander to the National Police Headquarters. The ceremony was nicely organized as a parade was conducted in his honour and in attendance were regional minister, security chiefs in the region and other dignitaries. They all delivered heartwarming speeches and bid him well in his new endeavours. We eventually pulled him out of the regional police headquarters and that was the end.
In this our democratic dispensation, we cannot change the fact that the president will always appoint the the Inspector General of Police as stipulates by the constitution but we as a service should accord our past IGPs and serving IGPs the needed respect and organise proper transition process for the police service. It is always a case of outgoing IGP not willing to leave the office and the incoming IGP on the heels of the outgoing IGP to leave the office as soon as possible. This has been the days of our lives in the police service. Our heroes are not appreciated and celebrated.
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