$1.9 Billion road map to transform Police Service

Front Page: Daily Graphic, May 20, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia & Timothy Gobah
THE Vice-President, Mr John Mahama, yesterday launched a $1.9 billion five-year Strategic National Policing Plan for the transformation and modernisation of the Ghana Police Service.
Emoluments and other incentives will require an additional $1 billion.
Under the road map strategic policy document, 16,000 additional personnel are to be recruited by 2014 to bring the total police strength to 40,000.
Four new police training schools are also to be established in the Upper West, Brong Ahafo, Western and Northern regions, while housing will be provided for 31,000 personnel of the service by 2014.
Although the Police Service requires 5,926 vehicles to enhance its operations, it currently has 1,512 and the plan will seek to address the challenges.
At the launch, which attracted retired Inspectors-General of Police, retired commissioners and members of the Diplomatic Corps, Mr Mahama called on all stakeholders to contribute financially and materially to the attainment of the goals of the plan.
He said the government had already started with the implementation of the 2010-2014 strategic plan with the provision of funds for the completion of all ongoing or abandoned police projects across the country, while work was ongoing on the new Forensic and Ballistic Laboratory.
He said equipment, in the form of communication gadgets and vehicles, was being provided by the government.
The Vice-President said the Police Service was re-engineering itself through effective strategic planning in order to re-define its strategies to be consistent with international standards for it to continue to be relevant and respected both nationally and internationally.
He commended the police and the other security agencies for the work they had been doing to keep the country peaceful and secure, in spite of the numerous challenges they faced.
He, however, expressed regret that a few bad nuts continued to receive infamous mention in the media for one misdemeanour or another, casting a blemish on the sterling performance of the majority.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, noted that the strategic plan, which was a revised version of the old one, would be completely executed.
He said the financial resources needed for the implementation of the plan were beyond the government’s normal budgetary allocation.
He said the Police Administration would unveil each of the project-specific packages under the plan and conduct a fund-raising event to mobilise funds for their implementation.
The plan represents the second formal attempt by the Ghana Police Service to fulfil the combined specification of the strategic objectives, national policing targets and capacity-building programmes and activities to be implemented over the medium term of five years and beyond to 2020.
The purpose of the plan is to enable the service to focus on democratic policing practices, as mandated by the Constitution, in serving the communities and the people, first by reviewing prevailing socio-economic conditions, stakeholders’ expectations, other environmental factors, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the service.