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Police Service a bit too lazy to carry out background checks on personnel – Dr. Norman
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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
General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justin Kodua Frimpong, has filed his nomination to contest the position of General Secretary again as the party begins its rebuilding efforts ahead of the 2028 general elections.
He was accompanied by party stalwarts and supporters who were in high spirits, expressing confidence that he is the right person to hold the position.
Speaking after filing his nomination, Mr Kodua Frimpong assured the rank and file of the party that he would not disappoint them.
“I can assure you that the faith the rank and file of the party have had in me, I will never disappoint them,” he said.
He also pledged to run a clean campaign devoid of personal attacks.
“I can assure you that our internal campaign will be devoid of personal attacks,” he told his fellow contestants and the rank and file of the party as he seeks to retain his position.
His tenure has seen the party through the 2024 general elections, where the NPP lost power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after eight years in government.
The party is currently in a rebuilding phase, with internal elections scheduled to elect new national executives to lead its reorganization towards the 2028 polls.
The General Secretary position is considered one of the most influential in the party’s administrative structure, responsible for the day-to-day running of the party secretariat and implementation of party decisions.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) has disputed claims made on social media by comedian Michael Blackson concerning the treatment given to his late mother, saying a review found that the allegations did not accurately reflect what happened during her stay at the hospital.
In a statement issued in Accra on August 5, 2026, the management of UGMC expressed condolences to Mr. Blackson and his family over the death of his 83-year-old mother, who died at the facility on July 16, 2026.
The hospital said it had taken the concerns raised by Mr. Blackson seriously and conducted a thorough review in line with its clinical and administrative procedures.
According to the statement, the facts presented by Mr. Blackson on social media contained “numerous inaccuracies” and did not accurately reflect the medical care provided to his mother.
UGMC explained that she was referred to the facility from another hospital and received treatment there from May 27 to July 16, 2026, a period of about eight weeks.
The hospital stated that it would not release details of her diagnosis, treatment, medical records or other aspects of her care because it had a duty to protect patient confidentiality, even after death.
It said the decision was intended to respect the dignity of the deceased and the privacy of her family.
UGMC further stated that all clinical decisions at the facility are made by qualified healthcare professionals based on medical judgment, established standards of care and the best interests of the patient.
The statement added that such decisions are made in consultation with authorised family representatives where necessary and that billing and financial procedures are governed by institutional policies and are separate from clinical decision-making.
The hospital noted that it values feedback from patients and their families and considers both positive and negative comments important for improving the quality of care.
Mr. Blackson had earlier used social media to criticise the care his mother received at UGMC, prompting the hospital’s response.
By: Jacob Aggrey
