Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), may not be corrupt, but he cannot claim the same about his officers, according to Dr. Ishmael Norman, President and CEO of the Institute for Security, Disaster and Emergency Studies.
The IGP will be in a deluded position, according to Dr. Norman, if he thinks his team will be as honest as he is.
Norman’s remarks follow the IGP’s insistence that the Ghana Police Service is not the most corrupt organisation in the country. According to the IGP, the approach used by studies who conclude that the service is the most corrupt is flawed.
In a poll on people’s opinions and experiences about corruption in Ghana, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), and other partners discovered that the Ghana Police Service topped the list of bribe takers.
Dr. Dampre, the IGP, expressed dissatisfaction with the findings in a letter, asking answers for how the study came to that conclusion and, in certain cases, calling into question the validity of the study.
The IGP decided that the poll may be accurate after pointing out irregularities that, in his opinion, could have impacted the results of the study.
On Thursday August 11, Dr Dampare reiterated his position that the Police service is not the most corrupt institution in Ghana although he admitted that there are a few bad elements in the service.
“They say we are corrupt, a problem identified has the solution. We have never said that there are not a couple of people who are doing things in a currupt way tarnishing the image of the service, we have never said that.
“We are doing all what we can to handle it but we will never accept the tag that we are the lead corrupt institution, it is unfounded because all those researches, I have challenged the methodologies. At the appropriate time we will respond to them but we will also be working at the things that people over the years are using against us and make us feel so uncomfortable when it comes to the issue of corruption.”
On Thursday, August 11, Dr. Norman responded to this on TV3, saying, “The Ghana Police is a big organization more than 30,000 people, the IGP no matter how good he is cannot represent the Ghana Police mentality and culture and ethos.
“So what he is doing is basically a drop in the bucket, like a little drop in the middle of the ocean. He may not be corrupt but he cannot say the same things for all the Policemen that are working under him. To do that will be actually a delusional kind of situation.
“I think the IGP has good intentions, he should motivate his people for better performance but he cannot expect that just because he wanted it mean that he is going to have it.”
