IGPs must be vetted with fixed tenure going forward – Dr. Bombande

Dr. Emmanuel Bombande, a security expert and senior UN mediator, has recommended that the nation review its current method of selecting candidates for the position of Inspector General of Police (IGP) in light of the ongoing controversy within the Ghana Police Service regarding the appointment of Dr. George Akuffo Dampare as that position.

The highest senior police officer in Ghana is called the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

The Ghanaian president appoints the IGP after consulting with the Council of State. The IGP, who serves as the Police Service’s chief, is in charge of managing the organization’s daily operations.

But on Tuesday, September 12, Dr. Bombande suggested, in an interview with PM Express on JoyNews, that among all the senior-most police officers at any given time, a president should take into consideration designating three of them to go through vetting, out of which one would be chosen for the position with a fixed tenure.

He thinks that by doing this, the misconception that political factors—rather than competence or merit—dominate IGP appointments will be dispelled.

“After the current IGP, we need to keep the standard, and so how about a good search that arrives at three senior officers, the COPs that the president who’s the appointing authority presents the list to the Police Council or whoever to vet and arrive at choosing one which then goes with a tenure.”

“That way, you went for an interview and you were recruited and everyone knows that you have four years and no one can go around trying to undermine you. That for me will be concrete. Our antidote, our resilience for stability in the volatility we find ourselves in West Africa and the whole of Africa is dependent on the efficiency and the effectiveness of the police and allied institutions.”

The appointment of IGPs has recently come under discussion after COP George Alex Mensah, a senior police officer, was allegedly caught on camera plotting to unseat the current IGP with the help of another police officer and a former Northern Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

COP Alex Mensah made it very obvious that he had always wanted to be the IGP and had been advocating for the post since 2017 when he later testified before an ad hoc committee of parliament established to look into the accusations caught in a leaked video that has gone viral.

Many people who followed his testimony before the committee came to the conclusion that the retiring COP was simply settling a personal score with the IGP out of jealousy or interest in his job.

COP Alex Mensah, among other things, boldly asserted that the present IGP was the worst he had ever seen in his years of service, a statement that has sparked fierce disagreement.

The officials were overheard saying that if the incumbent IGP were to stay in office, the NPP would probably lose the election and that replacing him would be in the party’s best interest.

The creation of the bipartisan parliamentary committee to look into the situation was prompted by this.

The assertion that Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, the present Inspector General of Police (IGP), is the worst to have held the job has been refuted by Dr. Emmanuel Bombande.

Dr. George Akuffo Dampare will, in Dr. Bombande’s opinion, “go down in history as the best IGP we ever had.”