<<Print>>

Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Member of Parliament for New Juaben North, has called for investigation into the recent promotions in the Ghana Police Service to ensure stability in the security agency. According to him, it was important to probe why some Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCOPs) were �jumped over� and not promoted to Commissioners when the promotions of such senior police officers were long overdue. Seconding the motion for the approval of nine ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees in Parliament yesterday, Mr. Owusu-Agyemang questioned why DCOPs such as Patrick Timbilla, Ashanti regional Commander, Frank Adu-Poku and David Asante-Apeatu were bypassed although they had been competent in the performance of their duties over the years. Some of these officers, he alleged, were ostensibly �jumped over� because they had been bosses of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration. �The country is polarized if promotions are politicised,� the former Interior minister stated, cautioning, �We stand the risk of politicising the Police Service if people are bypassed during promotions because they are perceived to be associated with political parties.� There had been reported cases of uneasiness within the Police Service following what political watchers had described as serious discrimination and political victimization of some senior officers in the recent promotion exercise. Mr. Owusu-Agyemang called on the incoming Minister for the Interior, William Kwesi Aboah, to investigate the issue in order to ensure fairness and transparency in the Police Service. Among the nominees who were approved for appointment as ministers were Moses Asaga, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare; Dominic Azimbe Azumah, Minister of state at the Presidency; Fritz Frederic Baffour, Minister for Information and Lee Ocran, Minister of Education. Amin Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister; Stephen Ackah, Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development; Henry Kwadzo Ametefee, Deputy Minister for Volta Region and Isaac Vanderpuye, Deputy Minister for Greater Accra Region, were also approved Isaac Asiamah, MP for Atwima-Mponua, called on President Mills to let Regional Ministers and District Chief Executives stay away from chairing Regional and District Security Councils prior to this year�s general elections. Many of these ministers and DCEs, he observed, were also parliamentary candidates of the ruling NDC and therefore could be biased in handling security matters during elections. Heads of police personnel in the regions and districts, he suggested, should chair the security councils to ensure free and fair elections devoid of intimidations. Mr. Asiamah asked Mr. Lee Ocran to apologise to Ghanaians for describing the oil discovered under the Kufuor administration as �dirty oil from Suame Magazine� since his cheeky comment had now proved otherwise. He praised Mr. Asaga for his qualities and questioned why the incoming minister for Employment and Social Welfare was initially nominated as the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing and later revoked in 2009 when the NDC came to power. The MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Frema Osei-Opare, who is also a former deputy minister for Employment and Social Welfare, was hopeful that Mr. Asaga would do well at his new portfolio. She entreated the new minister to get employment data of the country, which could help in governments� employment programmes and job creation. �Let us see the direction of employment policy, what direction to go and how to create employment,� Mrs. Osei-Opare pointed out. She called for adequate resourcing of the Social Welfare Department which, she noted, �was the family and parents of the vulnerable�. �You cannot give a whole department like Social Welfare a meagre amount of GH�6,000 to share to institutions that care for children who do not have parents,� Mrs. Osei-Opare stated, bemoaning the fact that that attitude had contributed to the sorry state of social welfare institutions in the country. Emmanuel Bedzrah, MP for Ho West, extolled the qualities of Mr. Asaga, Henry Kwadzo Ametefee and Fritz Baffour, urging Mr. Baffour to fulfil his promise of promoting the Ghanaian core values to control the influx of foreign cultures in the country.