The Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, has given the strongest indication yet that government would soon consider suggestions for the reinstatement of the former Director of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Kofi Boakye. This follows the swearing-in of the new Police Council by President Mills at the Castle on Tuesday.
The 13-member council is chaired by the Vice President and has the Interior Minister, Cletus Avoka; Inspector-General of Police Paul Quaye and deputy Attorney-General Ebo Barton-Oduro as some of its members. ACP Boakye was indicted in 2006 on the recommendations of the Georgina Wood Committee which investigated the famous MV Benjamin cocaine saga. The committee recommended his prosecution, but the police administration interdicted him, pending further investigations into the case.
And just a day before leaving office, however, former President John Agyekum Kufuor ordered the Police Council to reinstate the Police Director of Operations and pay his full benefits. The weight of calls for his return to post has moved a notch higher following a Court of Appeal verdict on Friday which acquitted and discharged Kwabena Amaning, alias Tagor and Alhaji Issah Abbass, both of whom had served almost 20 months out of their 15-year jail term each, over charges that they were involved in drug trading and the famous MV Benjamin cocaine case.
But speaking to Joy news at the Castle, Mr Mahama said the new Police Council would soon �consider� ACP Boakye�s situation. He admitted the order for the reinstatement of Mr Kofi Boakye by the previous administration must have come too late for it to be executed �but now that this new Police Council has been inaugurated by the president, I�m sure it is a matter that will come before the council,� The former Director of Operations is on record to have come through with a request to the Mills administration in May this year, asking for him to be restored. Meanwhile, Mr Mahama says the new council is working to resolve the age-old problem of accommodation for police personnel. The council has, as a start, directed the rehabilitation of existing barracks, many of which are in deplorable state.
Presidential praise
President Mills has also lauded the police for its effort at reducing crime in the country. �I can see that [you] are taking very important steps to protect the life and property of our people,� he told the gathering of police personnel at the Castle. �We are also aware of the need to do something about the welfare of those people who are putting their lives at stake. We shall do the very best that we can,� the president stressed.
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