The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Nathan Kofi Boakye, has said security work must be discharged without political interference from both the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the largest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
This, to him, would make policing in the country and the Ashanti Region in particular to become effective as the Ghana Police Service (GPS) would be able to discharge its mandate of providing security to all corners of society.
Speaking on Kumasi-based Hello FM last Thursday on what he calls live police-media-public encounter, the regional commander said having been in the region for the past one year, he could say that both the NDC and the NPP had tried to interfere in the work of the police.
He was emphatic that he was not there for any political party and would not allow himself or any police officer in the region to be used or influenced by any of the parties.
He observed that land guards were breaching the peace of society and any time the miscreants were arrested, some members of a political party would follow to plead on their behalf to be freed.
That, he said, if allowed to continue, would compromise effective policing, which would not support the fight against crime and disorder.
“For me, anybody who knows me very well knows that I am apolitical. I am not there for any political party and that I am determined not to be used by any political party to manipulate the police, especially in the Ashanti Region,” he stated in the local Asante Twi dialect.
He cautioned both the NDC and the NPP to advise themselves and allow the police to do their work without any interference.
Transfer rumours
He debunked rumours that he had received a letter transferring him from the Ashanti Region to the headquarters of the Ghana Police Service in Accra.
He recalled that he spent less than half a year in the Western Region before he was transferred to the Ashanti Region and that he was ever prepared to be transferred at any time.
He said it was frankly clear that he had done a lot in terms of development in police circles in the Ashanti Region and that should he be transferred as being rumoured, he would not be surprised.
Recently, some Kumasi residents, for reasons best known to them, have written inscriptions on their vehicles that “Kofi Boakye must go.”
Police for every suburb
He further said as part of broader plans to reduce and combat crime in the region, every suburb in the Kumasi Metropolis, for example, would have a police station.
That, he said, would help augment efforts of the police in providing optimum protection for the people day and night.
Police harassment on road
About complaints of police harassment of commercial drivers on the roads, he said the regional command was mapping out plans to investigate and if possible, restructure itself, especially the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) to help address the situation.
He also advised commercial drivers to adhere to driving rules so as to reduce or avoid what they call police harassment.
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