Enlistment into Ghana police suspended, not cancelled
Mr Cletus Avoka, the Interior Minister, on Monday said enlistment into the Ghana Police Service for 2009 had been suspended and not cancelled.
He told Parliament the acute residential and office accommodation problems facing the service was a big challenge since some of the officers had even become squatters.
The Minister said the welfare of serving men and officers had to be taken into consideration for them to perform professionally before adding up to the numbers.
He was responding to a question on the status of the enlistment process of over 7,000 persons who had been shortlisted for screening into the service this year.
In response to another question, he told the House the Inspector General of Police had written to the Ghana Armed Forces Command in March 11 to release some army personnel mentioned as suspects by Colonel Kwadwo Damoah, a former serving officer of the Ghana Armed Forces, who in February reported to the CID Headquarters that his residence had been invaded by some men.
Mr Avoka was responding to a question on steps being taken to identify and prosecute persons who had attacked and invaded the residence of Colonel Damoah, on March 4, at Cantonments, in Accra.
The Minister said the Ghana Armed Forces Command was yet to respond to the request of the IGP.
In another development, the Minister told the House that the conflict area in Bawku in the Upper East Region had been “sectored into six zones with each zone being managed by a senior police officer and 30 other ranks.”
He was responding to a question on steps to curtail the increasing spate of violence, brutalities and indiscriminate arson in the Bawku Municipality and its environs.
Mr Avoka said various operational strategies have been established including intelligence gathering and day and night joint police/military patrols, with emphasis on market days.
He said 24-hour security duties are provided at all vital installations in the municipality and an inter-ethnic peace committee to help in public education among others had been inaugurated.
Source: GNA