The Inspector General of Police Dr. George Akuffo Dampare has been ordered to, with immediate effect, suspend an upcoming 53rd Cadet Course for Senior Police Officers over “damning discoveries”.
A confidential letter of directive to the IGP signed by Interior Minister, Henry Quartey, said the upcoming senior officers course on Sunday, 25th February 2024, at the National Police Academy and Training School which the IGP had ordered should be put on hold.
This latest development comes after similar “issues” surrounding the 51st Officer Cadet Training under IGP Dampare which caught the attention of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) 2 years ago.
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In 2022, the OSP said it had commenced full investigations into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of the recruitment exercise of Course 51 of Cadet Officers Training at the same Ghana Police academy under IGP Dampare.
The investigations target specific cases of alleged corruption in 2022 where slots for 51st police Cadet Officers Training was shared and allegedly sold like confetti without recourse to the exams written with suspected very top-level complicity.
The Course 51 Cadet Officers Recruitments investigation related to using public office for profit, abuse of office, abuse of power, favouritism, nepotism, victimization, including the selection of unqualified persons.
It appears as if the woes of Dampare has deepen since the sacking of Ambrose Dery as Minister of Interior and the arrival of Henry Quartey.
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The letter written by new Minister Henry Quartey to IGP Dampare dated 21st February 2024 suggested the actions of the IGP leading up to the examination and selection of officers for the 25th February 2024 Senior Officers Course “has the potential to affect morale in the service as a whole”, part of the first paragraph of the Minister’s letter said with reference number SCR/VB 78/226/01 copied to the Chairman of the Police Service Council.
Sources say the process of selection of Senior Officers for the course has been fraught with controversies and alleged under-hand dealings going to the very top of the service.
Out of over 1831 Police officers eligible to take the exams for the training course conducted by the University of Cape Coast (UCC), the police administration sources said only 300 were to be selected on merit.
“Candidates should be made aware that out of the total number writing the examination, the first three hundred (300), in order of merit will be selected to constitute the 53rd Cadet Course. Nobody would be selected from this year’s examination to constitute any further course…” The correspondence with reference number Ref. SO/G.1/60C/VOL.2/ 19 sign DG Admin, COP C.T. Yohunu said.
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However, in addition to this 300 officers selected under dubious non-transparent circumstances, sources have said another set of officers numbering over 200 were “recommended by special arrangement” without recourse to the exams performance which was supposed to be the basis to determine qualification.
Morale in the police service under IGP Dampare is said to be very low over a series of “dictatorship” decision since assuming office in 2021.
Questions are being asked about inducement and favour exchanges without recourse to merit in the conduct and selection of officers for the said training on 25th February, 2024 and before that.
This state of affairs said to have affected moral in the police service as to pose a danger to the state which prompted the Interior Minister to take steps to reign in the IGP.
