By Isaac Ato MENSAH
Accra-5 September, 2018.
The Ghana Police Service (GPS) suffers from perpetual public relations turmoil and fiasco.
When assessed from the perspective of international best practice of PR, the GPS has very little that it can be proud of.
Officers Jaleel, Tehoda and Awuni epitomise what is wrong with our GPS.
‘I want to [garnish] the accounts of the police administration to force them [to reinstate me and pay my benefits],’ interdicted officer Abdul Jaleel stated to the media recently.
Abdul Jaleel plans to sue the Ghana police and the inspector general of police (IGP) for contempt of court for failing to reinstate him despite a court judgement and order.
He has been at home since 2008!
In July, the attorney-general reportedly wrote to the IGP warning him that an attempt at appealing against the Tema High Court ‘A’ judgment ‘will not be worthwhile’.
But the police administration is adamant.
…Black Star of hope and honour to all who thirst for liberty…
In the month of July, our GPS tracker showed that the Ghana Police Service trended badly.
The shooting to death of seven suspected armed robbers in Anwiankwanta, near Bekwai and the reinstatement of Gifty Tehoda were prominent.
On July 18, starrfmonline.com reported that in reaction to those killings, the youth of Asawase, the Kumasi suburb where the seven dead persons resided had set the Asawase police station on fire and soldiers had to be brought in to control the situation.
We also heard in the news in July that the GPS had recalled DSP Gifty Tehoda, following a human rights court’s declaration that her dismissal was null and void.
‘The judge also held that the police breached the rules of natural justice for a fair hearing, as DSP Tehoda was not given an opportunity to be heard during the service inquiry by the police leading to her dismissal,’ reported citinewsroom.com on 30 July, 2018.
She was awarded GH¢38,000 in damages for wrongful dismissal and wrongful detention, and her salaries during the five years of her dismissal were restored by the court.
The GPS promoted her to Chief Superintendent on resumption of duty, but it took the police more than a year to obey the court.
Why?
Under the current GPS structure, it was only then ACOP David Eklu and DCOP Awuni who due to their high rank, could call the shots in any public relations management exercise.
But we all saw how DCOP Awuni was handled, with multiple frequent transfers until his untimely death at 57 years.
DCOP Awuni was probably the officer who made the Ghana police best known to the media since media freedom was guaranteed by the 4th republican constitution.
In a funeral tribute by Gifty Ashitey on the Daily Graphic’s website, www.graphiconline.com dated 6 May, 2016, Ashitey quoted ACP James Azumah Abass, then Deputy Accra Regional Police Commander, as describing DCOP Awuni thus, ‘His conduct, honesty and idea of policing was quite different from any other person.
He spoke his mind and fought corruption with all his zeal and it didn’t matter whose ox was gored. Awuni will put it bluntly to you when you were wrong.’
There is no denying the fact that one public relations problem the GPS could not resolve was that it was perceived to be transferring DCOP Awuni- ironically the very solution to their PR crisis- all over the place as a form of punishment.
Perhaps the tribute by ACP Abass explains why.
Latif Iddrisu, Multimedia (Joy FM) journalist, may also perhaps understand why he suffered a skull fracture from police brutality in March, at the police headquarters of all places.
To date he has still not gotten justice.
The GPS website acknowledges that in the past, they suffered from the cliché, ‘For security reasons, for security reasons’.
Our GPS tracker indicates clearly that in addition to, ‘For security reasons’, the GPS suffers from their most potent cliché, ‘Order from above’.
We therefore recommend that the officers who constitute the police administration should take lessons in public relations management.
What is the motto of the GPS?
‘Service with Integrity.’
What is integrity?
The best answer comes from Lord Justice Jackson of the UK Court of Appeal…we shall never ever tire of quoting him.
‘Integrity connotes adherence to the ethical standards of one’s own profession. That involves more than mere honesty… a professional person is expected to be even more scrupulous about accuracy than a member of the general public in daily discourse.’
The farsightedness and fortitude of police officers Bawa Abdul Jaleel, Gity Tehoda and Angwubutoge Awuni, in enforcing integrity rules should inspire us all to police and track, with geometric precision, the fidelity of all to our obligations in order to avoid the miasma of injustice and scandal.
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Writers and Shakespeares Ghana Limited exists to be a moral and intellectual guide to the best practice of PR and integrated communications around the world, beginning with Ghana.
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