<<Print>>

A security analyst and head of research at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Aning has appealed for restraint by people commenting on the house arrest and interdiction of police commissioner, Mr Patrick Timbillah over his alleged involvement in the police recruitment scam.

According to him, the latest development was a very difficult time for the Ghana Police Service and whether people like it or not, they would have to engage with the service and ask some extreme tough questions on how to help the service to reclaim the credibility that it deserves.

In an interview with Accra based radio station Joy FM to comment on the matter, Dr Aning said he was personally saddened by the development.

“I’m saddened but in terms of falsification of official document no. “

“I’m saddened for the individual [Timbillah] involved and I’m saddened for the service as a whole because it is a service that I love and it’s a service that plays a critical role in providing security for this country so I think its most unfortunate,” he said.

“Well I think once more, were this to be true, if the investigations were to conclude, that what we are hearing is correct, then I think this will almost sound the death knell of the Ghana Police Service.”

Explaining, Dr Aning said over the past decade, there have been disturbing instances and cases in which officers of all ranks have been complicit in all kinds of malfeasance and consistently over time, both the afro barometer and other assessments of the performance and public perception of the service have rated it negatively.

However, there have been robust denials by the leadership of the service all the time.

According to Dr Aning, questions such as what tough structural interventions, performance indicators and contracts and how to ensure that public perception of the service as an inherently corrupt institution and how to deal with it should engage people’s minds now.