Court Orders IGP To Reinstate Two Policemen

The Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court has ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to reinstate two policemen, Corporals Forster Mensah and Daniel Agitator, who were dismissed from the service for misconduct. The court, presided over by Mr Justice Kofi Essel-Mensah, also ordered that the report of the Central Disciplinary Board of the Ghana Police Service which investigated the misconduct be set aside. Instead, the two policemen are to be paid all their salary arrears with interest from May 1, 2008, till date, in accordance with the Bank of Ghana prevailing rate. The policemen had, through their counsel, Mr Francis Kojo Sosu, filed a suit against the IGP and the Attorney-General for wrongfully dismissing them. Reliefs Sought They prayed the court to order their reinstatement and the payment of their salary arrears due and owing to them from April 30, 2008, when they were unlawfully dismissed. They also prayed the court to order that the Central Disciplinary Board did not have jurisdiction to order their dismissal when they were found not to be guilty of the offences with which they had been charged by the service enquiry. Defendants� submission Corporals Mensah and Agitator were, on April 30, 2008, dismissed from the Ghana Police Service after the Central Disciplinary Board of the service had found them guilty of misconducting themselves. They were said to have stopped a man, Paul Clark Ansah, who was in a Kia Pride taxi, with registration number GW 206 X, and demanded a bribe from him. According to the Police Administration, Ansah refused to give any bribe to them and the plaintiffs then locked up the car and left the scene. The Police Administration averred that Ansah later went back to the place where he had left the vehicle but found that it had disappeared. Ansah traced the car to a police station and followed up with the documents on it, but the plaintiffs refused to release it to him. Statement of Claim According to a summary of the plaintiffs� case as amended in their statement of claim, the policemen were stationed in Agona Swedru. In August, 2007 the two, acting on a tip off, reported to their district commander about a stolen car and, upon instruction, towed the car to the station. Subsequent developments revealed that the plaintiffs had been misled by the informant and eventually the district commander had them charged, tried summarily and punished. According to the statement, Ansah wrote a false petition to the Police Administration which asked the Agona Swedru Divisional Police Commander to investigate the policemen. Service Enquiry The end result of the said investigation was the setting up of a police service enquiry which was carried out by Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr Jordan Quaye.