CPP To Abolish Office Of IGP

The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) on Wednesday indicated it would abolish the post of Inspector General of Police (IGP) and set up Metropolitan, Municipal and District Police Commissioners for effective localised security management. "In countries where security to life and property has been well managed, there is no position like the IGP but a number of Commissioners of Police appointed to oversee the activities of the various regions". "This mode of devolution of security has resulted into taking of quick decisions to avoid what would be bloody situations in several cases", Mr George Oposika Aggudey, CPP Shadow Cabinet Minister of the Interior, stated at the ninth in a series of media encounters in Accra. Speaking on the topic: "How CPP will manage National Security", Mr Aggudey, CPP Election 2004 Presidential Candidate, said: "A CPP Government will move police men and women from the barracks and find them suitable accommodation with the people they are to protect and serve" In addition to the restructuring, the CPP government would provide the police with adequate resources; including "walkie-talkies", vehicles and intelligence-gathering logistics to fight crime in general and violent crime in particular. "We would launch an eternal public education campaign on the social cost of crime and encourage the public through various rewards to help the police", he said. Mr Aggudey, who is the Chief Executive Officer of a private security company, noted that the party would strengthen the Economic and Organised Crime Office with technology and human resources to ensure discipline at all levels of economic activity. Other security measures by a CPP Government would include the establishment of Correctional Enterprises within the Prisons Service, overhaul the Ghana Immigration Service to make it capable of combating the growing threats of cross border and cyber crimes as well as terrorism. He said a CPP Government would also encourage security agencies in the country to integrate their activities in order to share vital information on intelligence especially on cross border crimes, narcotics, proliferation of small arms and light weapons. The press conference was attended by leading CPP members and a cross section of the public.