New IGP can’t afford to disappoint

Page 9: Daily Graphic, May 19, 2009.
By Albert K. Salia
MR Paul Tawiah Quaye is assuming leadership of the Ghana Police Service at a time that his immediate predecessor, Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, was taken steps to address concerns of professional ethics, competence, efficiency and discipline.
Indeed, insiders know that Mr Quaye had been a close pal of Mrs Mills-Robertson, with whom they had been discussing issues of common good for the police.
Thus, his appointment is expected to see the continuation of some of the measures that Mrs Mills-Robertson pursued to redeem the sunken image of the service. Of course, one would expect some alteration in one policy or another.
It has been argued that it is only a principled, disciplinarian, inspirer and fair-minded person who can command the service, particularly at this time when morale is so low and the image of the service has sunk to such disturbing limits. No doubt, Mr Quaye has these attributes.
It is an incontrovertible fact that patronage has become the gateway to progress in the Ghana Police Service. As a result, professional ethics, competence, efficiency and discipline seem to have completely broken down.
The problems within the service are well known and actually documented, and I believe that the President took that into consideration in deciding to appoint Mr Quaye as the IGP. So he has the golden opportunity of demonstrating his competence and capability to justify the President’s trust in him.
A very proficient systems analyst with more than 18 years experience in conducting studies and recommending the re-organisation of various units and departments within the service, Mr Quaye’s key objective, as an IGP, is to work and attain the highest levels of efficiency in the Ghana Police Service.
Mr Quaye, who believes in team work, also possesses rich skills in policy formulation and planning for change with in-depth knowledge in research works and identification of organisational weaknesses and defects.
He has the ability to focus on strategic direction of an organisation, with a view to effecting and implementing realistic change management mechanisms which are aimed at meeting self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology (SMART) objectives.
Mr Quaye has a strong ability to introduce Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) into organisational practices to positively impact performance; he is also a strong team player in achieving organisational goals and objectives.
Born on May 6, 1953, Mr Quaye holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and an Executive Master’s in Business Administration (EMBA) in Human Resource Management.
He was commissioned as an Assistant Superintendent of Police into the Police Service in 1980 and rose through the ranks to become Commissioner of Police in 2002. He was, until his appointment, the Commissioner in charge of Strategic Direction and Monitoring of the Ghana Police Service.
Other positions that Mr Quaye had held in the past included acting Director-General in charge of Welfare, Commissioner of Police in charge of Human Resource Development and Manpower Planning and also at one time, he was responsible for Research, Planning and ICT.
He was a commander responsible for Volta and Upper East regions. He was a Deputy Commissioner at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters and also a member of a team that conducted studies and developed systems for criminal research for the CID.
In addition, he served in peacekeeping operations in Sudan, where he was the senior UN police adviser/planner. He served in the United Nations mission in Bosnia into the bargain.
Mr Quaye attended other training programmes in India at the Armed Forces Staff College and the United States Department of Justice.
This is a rich background of a police officer who everyone looks to, to turn the fortunes of the service around.
Whatever the case may be, the President also has a responsibility to make the IGP succeed. The President, with the help of his advisors, draws a charter for the Office of the IGP. The charter must state the objectives and targets to be realised, which must be assessed on an annual basis. This must be based on a benchmark performance, for which the IGP must be accountable. It should be the task of the Police Council, the first oversight body, and the sector Minister to ensure that these objectives are achieved.
The President and, for that matter the government, must ensure that the resources needed for success are readily available. Although all the problems cannot be immediately resolved, issues of accommodation, logistics vis-a-vis communication gadgets and vehicles, insurance for personnel should be given serious thought.
Besides unemployment, the greatest challenge to fighting crime in the country is the sprawling neighbourhoods where there are no police stations. Also, ‘unmotorable’ roads to those new development communities are usually quiet at day and night. Therefore, more vehicles must be provided to increase the patrols in those areas.
Lobbying among senior police chiefs over the topmost job in the service reflected serious defects in the structure of the law enforcement body, which makes progress not dependent upon loyalty, competence and efficiency.
The Government must review the structural inefficiencies that exist in the Police Service which resulted in officers openly lobbying for top positions whenever there was a change of government.
These problems which had persisted over time continue to endure because recommendations made by successive committees were not followed by both the Police Service and the Government.
A case in point is the Archer Commission Report which must be revisited with all urgency.
Lobbying in any law enforcement situation should be discouraged and even condemned because of the likelihood of the infiltration of organised crime syndicates who could support a candidate in order to win favour and protection.
It should be emphasised that the accountability and oversight mechanisms on current evaluations are totally ineffective. This can be attributed to both policy and structural deficiencies. The Government must take a good look at the procedure and mode of appointments of an IGP. What would be the laid-down rules governing such appointments?
Now that Mr Quaye has been appointed the IGP, it is imperative that he should be given target realisation objectives, which should be assessed on an annual basis to determine effective performance.
The Police Council, which is the immediate oversight authority of the Police Service, should also be tasked in a similar manner. Often times, the Police Council is always accused of not being heard of and is also subject to policy directions of an IGP. For instance, at the height of the cocaine and bribery scandals, the Police Council was accused of being impotent. The public expected the Council to have asserted its oversight authority by guiding and guarding any investigations within the service and making its voice heard.
The accountability mechanism could be further strengthened by the establishment of an independent body to handle complaints made against the Police. The present arrangement where the Police virtually has to investigate itself through the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) is rather outmoded and ridiculous. Some officers, particularly the junior ranks often accused the PIPS of always using junior officers as the benchmark of performance, while offending senior officers are left off the hook. Should that be the case? This, Mrs Mills-Robertson wanted to address by interdicting senior police officers, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP). These actions must be sustained.
Mr Quaye must also pay serious attention to the CID of the police. The CID remains the most vital part of any Police system in the world. It is, therefore, important that it is restructured and resourced to effectively respond to the demands of modern syndicated crime.
It is also important that a Crime Intelligence Unit with the CID is established to source intelligence on crime and criminality to enhance proactive policing. In establishing the unit, the personnel should be made to understand that their responsibility is not to be effecting arrests or investigating cases only. The use of retired and experienced hands in such a unit should be highly considered, since they have a depth of information and contacts that young officers might not have.
Mr Quaye cannot afford to disappoint the President and the whole personnel of the service who see him as someone to turnaround the fortunes of the service. However, Mr Quaye must guard against being pushed to the gutters through patronage. In fact, the IGP must conduct a personnel audit of the service and ensure that those who need not be there are shown the exit. Those are the very people creating embarrassment for the service.