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Police Service a bit too lazy to carry out background checks on personnel – Dr. Norman
The President of the Institute of Security Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr. Ishmael Norman, has accused the Ghana Police Service of being ‘a bit too lazy’ in keeping an eye on their personnel after recruitment.
According to him, the failure of the Service to monitor the activities and lifestyles of its members has enabled criminal elements within to flourish and fester.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday, he noted that the Ghana Police Service has all the needed capacity to run background checks on their recruits and members, however, they have failed to do so.
“The Police has the mechanism, the modalities to do background check. So the recruitment process itself is a very normal way of recruiting mass groups of people. After you do the recruitment then you have to do the background check. This is what is missing.
“Even though they have the capacity, they have the modality, they have the organization to do the background check, they are a bit too lazy to do that job and so the professionalism that we expected the recruitment part of the police, the department to do, they have failed Ghanaians,” he said.
He was speaking in relation to the arrest and indictment of 6 police officers in the ongoing bullion van investigations.
Dr. Norman believes the 6 arrested might only be the tip of the iceberg of organized criminal gangs within the Police Service.
According to him, an independent investigation into the Police force starting from the Inspector General of Police to the lowest rank would unravel many skeletons and rid the Service of criminal elements.
Again, he stated that even though it is possible that criminal gangs have infiltrated the Police force through recruitment, it is also very possible that some of these criminal elements were only recruited into the gangs after entering the Service.
“I think it’s two sides of the same coin. Some of them might have been weaponised within the Police. If I’m doing operation and I see energetic, willing guys, crazy guys, I’ll pick them and then indoctrinate them to do it. And if they are already criminals I will also pick them. I think what is happening here is that we cannot really blame everything on the recruitment process,” he said.
“But if in fact they became weaponised while they were in the force, then it doesn’t matter if before they came to the police force they were preachers, men of God, men of mosque, Imams, and then when they got into the police force the attractions, the promises of windfall, the gaps within the police, the disciplinary issues within the police and there are huge disciplinary issues within the police,” he added.
Dr. Norman has thus called for a closer look at the Police’s own approach at surveilling its members in order to weed out corruption and crime from within.
“But let us not blame it on the recruitment. Let us look at what the Police does in order to surveil its own force. Let us see whether they test them for drug use. Let us see whether they spy on them for those that have all of a sudden they’re earning maybe 4,000 cedis a month but they’re driving a $150,000 vehicle or a 150,000 cedi vehicle then you have to know that these people are into some nefarious activities,” he said.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
Massive celebrations were recorded countrywide as the Black Stars opened their 2026 World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Panama in Toronto on Wednesday.
Midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi scored the only goal of the match late in the game as he shot in a decent cross from substitute Brandon Asante.
The win gave Ghana a positive start in the competition, placing them in second position behind England, also with three points but with a superior goal aggregate.
After the final whistle, the streets and other viewing centres were turned into partying grounds as fans, mostly clad in the team’s paraphernalia, danced to several World Cup-themed music.
Others blew the vuvuzelas in joyous mood with others putting up a spirited ‘jama’ session.
Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Adentan Constituency, Akosua Manu, has urged party members to move away from what she describes as an “entitlement mentality” and focus on unity, sacrifice and hard work as the party prepares for the 2028 general election.
In a statement titled “Is Loyalty a Queue?”, and posted on facebook, Ms. Manu argued that loyalty to the NPP should not be judged by how long a person has been in the party but by their contributions and commitment to its growth.
According to her, the NPP’s history shows that many of its leaders faced significant opposition from within the party before eventually leading it to electoral success.
She cited former President John Agyekum Kufuor as an example, saying he had to overcome resistance from influential figures within the party before winning power for the NPP in 2000.
Ms. Manu noted that after the party lost power in 2008, former President Kufuor faced criticism and accusations from some party members.
However, she said supporters eventually put their differences aside and worked together to rebuild the party.
She pointed to the experience of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who, according to her, faced opposition from some factions within the NPP despite his long service to the party.
“His trials were ten times what Kufuor endured,” she stated, adding that Akufo-Addo eventually overcame the challenges and became President of Ghana.
Turning to the NPP’s current flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Ms. Manu said he also faced resistance from different groups within the party while seeking leadership.
She praised Dr. Bawumia for contributing to policy-based political discussions in Ghana and for remaining composed following the NPP’s defeat in the 2024 elections.
According to her, party members must now rally behind him in the same way they supported former Presidents Kufuor and Akufo-Addo.
Ms. Manu, however, warned that internal divisions and a sense of entitlement remain major threats to the party’s future.
She argued that some party members place too much emphasis on how long individuals have belonged to the NPP rather than on their contributions and capabilities.
“This entitlement does not question impact. It does not ask what you sacrificed or what you built. It asks only how long have you been here,” she said.
The former parliamentary candidate cautioned that such attitudes could discourage committed members and prevent the party from selecting the best people for leadership positions.
She further called on the party’s incoming national executives to strengthen the NPP’s core values of sacrifice, honesty, integrity and dedication to national development.
Ms. Manu addressed the concerns of young party supporters, many of whom she said became discouraged following the NPP’s electoral defeat in 2024.
According to her, many young people remain eager to see the party return to power but are unwilling to support internal conflicts driven by personal ambitions.
She urged party elders to place the interests of the NPP above their individual goals and to demonstrate leadership that attracts rather than alienates members.
“The NPP is bigger than any one of us. It always has been. Our collective responsibility is to act like it,” she stated.
By: Jacob Aggrey
