Don’t Sell Your Soul To Become IGP – Security Consultant Advises Police Officers
Security consultant Richard Kumadoe has admonished police officers not to downgrade themselves by selling their willpower to politicians in their quest to become the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
He advised police officers who want a promotion to be professional in discharging their duties and undertake courses that will make them competent to fit in prestigious positions within the service rather than seeking political favour to climb up the ladder.
He believes the IGP position should be assigned by merit and not through lobbying based on political affiliations.
Mr Kumadoe’s comment follows a leaked tape which captures former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Bugri Naabu, and some senior police officers in a conversation ostensibly plotting to remove the current IGP, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, before the 2024 general elections.
The implicated officers were COP George Alex Mensah, Superintendent Emmanuel Eric Gyebi and Superintendent George Lysander Asare.
COP Mensah, an affiliate of the NPP, had gone to lobby for the position and promised to help the incumbent party win the 2024 polls.
Parliament later set up a 7-member ad-hoc committee to probe the leaked tape.
A few days after the hearing of Mr Naabu and the three senior police officers, new videos emerged indicating that Dr George Akuffo Dampare lobbied for the position of Inspector General of Police.
Bugri Naabu, in the video, alleged that there was an agreement between him and Dr Dampare that he would be receiving GH₵10,000 every month and a contract to deliver 40,000 police boots for aiding him.
Commenting on the development, Mr Kumadoe said, “I seriously disagree that you have to lobby for it [IGP position]”.
He continued: “No wonder the politicians are treating them the way they are currently treating them because some of them went selling their souls to the politicians, who trample on them, and that is why we are struggling as senior law enforcement officers, and I will always disagree with anyone who says you have to lobby for that position”.
He proposes that the IGP role “should be more about your competence and should be more about the favour of God, and I think we should see that position as a position of leadership and not an entitlement”.
“If you say you are an NDC member or NPP member, so you are lobbying for it, it means that you are not there to serve your country and you are there to play political cards. If you allow them to play NDC or NPP political party card, we are in this country, and the tables may turn tomorrow and create problems”.
In relation to the allegations against Dr Dampare, he said he knows Dr Dampare and what he can do to address corrupt and unlawful cases in the country.
He suggested that the IGP should be allowed to address all the allegations levelled against him by Bugri Naabu and the three senior police officers.
“IGP Dampare should be given the opportunity to appear before the committee. I know Dampare for who he is, and I know he is not afraid to appear before the committee”.
However, he expressed disappointment that Dr Dampare’s response would be heard in camera.
“I’m disappointed they are not making his hearing in public because we want to hear the IGP speaking. We don’t want any third party to come and explain things to the public. We want him to speak publicly, addressing all the allegations levelled against him,” he told Joy News in an interview.
Meanwhile, IGP Dr George Akuffo Dampare is expected to appear before parliament’s ad-hoc committee today, September 12, 2023.