President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and new IGP, George Akuffo Dampare
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that he and the Inspector General of Police, COP Dr George Akuffo Dampare will need to liaise to ensure that the Police service is not stampeded by politicians.
President Akufo-Addo said while swearing-in Dr Dampare at the seat of government, the Jubilee House on Friday, October 8 that it is in everybody’s interest that the Police conducts itself creditably in accomplishing the duty of ensuring law and order in Ghana.
“It is in everybody’s interest that the Police Service conducts itself as a principled, creditable instrument of accomplishing the executive’s duty to maintaining law and order in the state. Governments in our body politics have term limits, in a multiparty democracy parties win and lose power. It is good for the health of the nation that this should be so.
“This is why the Police Service under your leadership should not tie its wellbeing or otherwise to the fortunes of the ruling party of the day”.
“As president, and together with you as Inspector General of Police, we need to cooperate to ensure that the Police service is left to focus on its core mandate and not be an appendage of the ruling party,” Mr Akufo-Addo said.
For his part, Dr Dampare said in his acceptance speech that “Working with my colleagues in the Police service and outside it, and also getting the support and the backing of the population of the country we will be able to leave the Police service better than we came to meet it.
“So that at the end of the day if we leave the service and we are passing by and we see Police people doing an excellent job we will be proud and tell ourselves that yes we also contributed and as a result of that we are seeing a different Police service.”