You Are Welcome – IGP Yohuno

 

You have been successfully sworn in as the new IGP with effect from Friday, March 14 2025 and I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your well-deserved promotion. Your rise to this position has not been easy at all and the job that has been entrusted to you also has obstacles, traps and pitfalls. Your major problem is how you coexist and work with the Presidency. The President appointed you but you don’t need to be his poodle. No matter the obstacles and minefields, the joy of every professional is to get to the apex of his or her profession and by the Grace of God you have made it, so leave a mark.

The rumour mill is that your former boss frustrated you as his Deputy, but this is over now, and you should move ahead and face your challenges. It is alleged that you were welcomed to the Police Headquarters with jubilant admirers spraying Ghana Cedis on you. I believe you didn’t know anything about the display of affluence but think seriously about its implications in an institution which has been perceived repeatedly as corrupt and its impact on your reign.

 

Leadership

Your leadership qualities are not in doubt but notwithstanding, once you have been appointed and confirmed whatever leadership qualities you have, are all that you have to do the job. Let me remind you what I wrote to IGP Dampare when he assumed office. I told him leadership is lonely, but that the leader is not alone to solve all problems by himself without the assistance of his numerous advisers and subordinates. He would of necessity delegate some of his responsibilities and receive advice and recommendations. He is alone in the sense that he ALONE takes the DECISIONS and therefore responsible for the actions, failures or successes.

General Douglas MacArthur of the US Army stated that “a true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions, and the integrity of his intents.’’ What it means is that your success will be judged by what you do whilst in office and Ghanaians will be watching you. My advice is, follow the “3Fs” principles of leadership – FIRM, FAIR and FRANK.

 

Integrity

Integrity to my mind is the most important qualification you need for the job. An IGP in a garrulous, corrupt and indiscipline society is very daunting because the very people who are praising you today will be the same people – your mentors, colleagues, relatives, friends, and more importantly, the political divide who will do everything in their power to undermine, corrupt or call for your head.

Whether you like it or not, your responsibility has political connotations but if your decisions and actions are seen with political colorations you will surely run into many difficulties. My understanding of integrity is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles” and I presume you possess these qualities, and they will surely be put to test to the highest limit. Integrity demands that you do what is right even if it is unpleasant and unpopular to those who made you what you are today.

 

Discipline

The key to leadership is “to show example” and therefore lead by example. Any city in the world you visit and see cleanliness, orderliness and discipline is an indication of the presence of disciplined and dedicated Police Service. Today, the indiscipline of the younger generation seems to suggest a total break-down of law and order in the society but the Police whose singular responsibility it is to arrest the situation seems totally overwhelmed.

Your immediate responsibility to my mind is how to extricate the image of the Police Service, to earn the respect of Ghanaians to enable the Service to execute its Constitutional mandate because without the support of the citizens, it will be extremely difficult.

To achieve this objective, there are many areas I would have drawn your attention to but for lack of space. IGP Dampare just left the scene, and snap roadblocks are everywhere with the police checking driving licences, roadworthiness, insurance etc.

In Ghana, we know that these are the areas where some of our policemen extort monies and frustrate drivers to enrich their pockets. Was it part of the problems of the unpopularity of Dr. Dampare?

 

Politicisation

You have experience in the police service and therefore know its image. Apart from corruption which seems to overshadow the image, the other most serious challenge is the polarization of the Service between the NDC and NPP. The situation was created during the 19 years of revolution, when a deliberate attempt was made by those in authority to recruit certain tribes and revolutionary cadres into the Security Services. When the PNDC metamorphosed into a political party all the cadres also metamorphosed into military and police services. No conscious effort has ever been made by the NDC and NPP to change the status quo and any of these two parties when in power take advantage of the situation to pursue their agenda.

The attempts by subsequent governments to balance the equation has created a politically divided Police service and the situation has adversely affected command and efficiency. Promotions which should be earned on MERIT, has been replaced by ethnicity, politics, God Fathers and “whom you know” and consequently morale of the Service is suffering. The Service functions under political leadership but to perform your profession effectively, you need to be a good referee and avoid a political domination. “Discipline is the thing that makes you do what you might not want to, but you do it anyway because it’s what you have to do in order to get what you want or desire” – Kyle Vidrine.

 

Corruption

On corruption, remember that the whole Service is wearing the tag of corruption, and you need new ways to change this perception. Let me remind you of the Akan proverb which says “Opanyin a ohwe mofra ma owe nanka no se wokan nanka we foa oka ho” literally translated “elders who look on whilst kids consume snake meat, will be counted as snake eaters when they (snake eaters) are being counted.’’ What this means is that you may not be corrupt but if you fail to sanction corrupt cases, you will be branded as corrupt. Avoid instituting measures that will encourage corruption such as checking of driving licences, road worthiness, insurance etc. you have a herculean task because it is not only the Police Service that is corrupt, many Ghanaians and institutions are. You cannot fight corruption alone in the Police Service but take inspiration from what Mother Teresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” Yes, you alone cannot fight or leave the corruption in the Police but you can “cast a stone across the service to crate many ripples”.

 

The Traffic Menace

Our traffic today is inundated with intimidating Chinese dumpers, mini and maxi buses, trotros, mini cabs, aboboyaas, motorbikes and many undescribed vehicles being driven by “indiscipline” drivers. At traffic holds up, breakdown or accident on any of the roads, the roads turn within seconds into traffic jams and confusion. When such situations occur the “clever” drivers resort to unethical driving especially on the shoulders of the roads to extricate their vehicles from the messy spots. Many Police officers who have unfortunately found themselves in such situations have done their best but short of pleasing the motorists caught in the web. Our poor single lane roads have not made driving easier and as the number of vehicles multiply, the police must find new ways to control traffic, Driving has become a very dangerous and difficult vocation and with the number of the few Police personnel on traffic assignments no relief is anticipated soon. My only advice is, pursue the issue of “on the spot” fines and this will help put fear in some drivers to drive carefully to avoid paying avoidable fines. With digitalisation, collecting fines electronically from drivers shouldn’t create many problems. This will not only improve discipline on our roads but will raise enough funds to support Police operations.

Some of the monies could also be paid as incentives and bonuses to Police personnel who excel in their duties. I will plead with you to pay more attention to this issue since man hours wasted in traffic by drivers could be put to better use to improve the economy. Checking of licences, roadworthiness, insurance etc is a nuisance to drivers but a way to enrich policemen which deepens corruption in the Service which must be curtailed. There are many issues, but I will leave these few for your contemplation.

I wish you well.

 

By: Brig-Gen (Rtd) J. Odei

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