Former Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh
The Inspector-General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, is reportedly leaving his post as Inspector General of Police for George Akuffo Dampare who will take over as the new head of the Police Service.
Oppong-Boanuh, on a number of occasions during his tenure of office, was called to either resign or be sacked for passing some comments that some Ghanaians said were uncalled for.
They averred that certain things that happened in the country could have been averted if he did his job responsibly.
GhanaWeb in this article makes a compilation of some controversies that happened during the era of James Oppong-Boanuh.
Election 2020 violence
The National Election Security Taskforce (NESTF) reported that a total of 61 electoral and post-electoral incidents were recorded across the country in 2020.
From the firing of gunshots at electoral centres to other physical abuses, 6 people were reported to have died during the electoral violence.
Following this, Ranking Member on Defence and Interior, James Agalga backed calls by the Minority in Parliament for the dismissal of James Oppong-Boanuh as IGP.
They also argued that he should have provided enough security to curb such acts from happening on the election day.
Hawa Koomson fires warning shots
It would be recalled that the Awutu Senya East MP, Mavis Hawa Koomson fired warning shots during a voter registration exercise in February 2020. According to her, her life was under threat at that time and she needed to protect herself from miscreants.
The case was referred to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service for probing. Weeks went by without any information on the issue and as usual, questions were raised about the progress of the case subsequently.
Hawa Koomson gunshots: Investigation is not a one-day event
The Inspector-General of Police, reacting to the delay in Hawa Koomson’s case on Wednesday, November 4, 2020, asked Ghanaians to be patient with the police service, stating that, investigating a criminal case is not a one-day event.
The Communications officer of Awutu Senya East National Democratic Congress (NDC), Delali Sewoekpor described James Oppong-Boanuh’s comment as a political cover-up.
According to him, the IGP did not show any commitment in prosecuting the Minister despite her admission that she fired the warning shots at a registration centre within the Awutu Senya East constituency.
He, therefore, requested that the IGP was taken off his position for a more credible one to take over.
Hawa Koomson has however apologized for her involvement in a shooting incident which nearly marred the voter registration process in her constituency.
’Crime is everywhere apart from heaven’ statement:
James Oppong-Boanuh came under immerse criticisms for asking Ghanaians to lower their expectations of the police after some armed men killed a civilian and a police officer who was escorting a bullion van.
According to him, crime is experienced everywhere including developed countries so Ghana’s case is not any different.
“We are doing what we can to protect the people of Ghana. There is no society in the world where there is no crime. Even in the USA, UK and Sweden, where they more or less have everything, they still have crime. The only place that doesn’t have crime is heaven and we are not in heaven,” James Oppong-Boanuh told journalists.
He made these remarks when he visited the deceased police officer’s family after the robbery incident at Jamestown in Accra.