Inspector-General of Police should resign – Security analyst
Security and safety Analyst Adam Bonaa has called for the head of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), James Oppong-Boanuh, following the recent murder of a cop.
The call for his resignation follows a series of robbery attacks in the country, including a daylight robbery incident, which led to the death of a police officer and a 35-year-old woman on Monday, June 14.
The police officer, Constable Emmanuel Osei, and the lady, Joyce Amankwah, were killed after eight robbers attacked a MON TRAN bullion van at Adedenkpo, a suburb of James Town in Accra.
Last Wednesday, two armed men shot a man in the stomach in a daylight robbery, and he was confirmed dead 24 hours after being treated at the 37 Military Hospital.
On the same day, two armed men broke into a forex bureau near Honeysuckle in Osu.
The robbers stormed the structure adjacent to the Fire Service and closer to the Police Headquarters and made away with about GH₵600.
In the view of Mr Bonaa, these occurrences are because of the influx of firearms in the country through importation and local manufacturing.
According to him, if urgent measures were not put in place to curtail the activities of the criminals, they would plunge the country into a state of instability.
He believes 63-year-old IGP James Oppong-Boanuh should retire and allow a younger, vibrant and pragmatic officer to deal with the new crime trend.
“I am putting the blame at the doorsteps of the Police IGP, and I am advocating that he should go,” Mr Bonah recommended.
“He has reached retirement age, and they have given two extensions, so he should go home for more enthusiastic and energised officers who are within the 60 years limit to take over and probably put a bit more enthusiasm into the Ghana Police,” he emphasised in an interview with Joy FM.
READ ALSO: IGP Threatens To Withdraw Police From Bullion Van Escorts
Meanwhile, the IGP has instructed the Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to take over investigations into the crime at Adedenkpo, a suburb of Jamestown.
He has also asked financial institutions, particularly those with the Association of Bankers, to procure fortified armoured vehicles to cart cash within the country.
Bullion van attacks
In January 2021, 10 suspected armed robbers attacked a bullion van belonging to the Delta Security Company at Fomena in the Ashanti Region.
In that attack, a policeman escorting the van, General Lance Corporal Martin Baba, was killed.
The van was transporting GH¢500,000 from the Dunkwa-on-Offin branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank to the bank’s branch at New Edubiase when the attack occurred.
The leader and some suspects were later apprehended.
The mastermind was John Appiah, alias Omega, a 22-year-old senior high school (SHS) graduate.