Owusu-Poku officially takes charge as IGP

Mr. Ernest Owusu-Poku was on Thursday officially ushered in as the Inspector General of Police at a parade at the Police Headquarters in Accra.

Sixty-one officers and men took part in the colourful parade where they displayed their dexterity in quick and slow step marching, drawing rounds of applause from watchers, including senior police officers and a cross section of the public.

The Council of State last week approved the nomination of Mr. Owusu-Poku who has been in acting capacity for the past six months.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Owusu-Poku said he is committed to offering quality leadership to ensure that the service achieves its objectives and called on officers to pool their resources to meet the challenges of law enforcement.

“By my confirmation the government has demonstrated its confidence in my administration and this must be reciprocated by working hard to curb crime”, he said.

" Let us again endeavour to discharge our duties efficiently despite the logistics and manpower constraints and keep on the momentum. These problems should not deter us from achieving the objectives of the profession and particularly in sustaining peace, law and order."

He said even though the security situation has improved considerably since he took office, armed robberies continue to afflict the citizenry and called for support of the public to deal with the security threats.

Mr. Owusu-Poku said the tragedy at the Accra Sports Stadium on May 9 where police fired teargas resulting in the death of 126 people should serve as a lesson and guide to the Police in their behaviours and actions.

He commended the previous government and his predecessor Mr. Peter Nanfuri, for their endeavours to achieve the objectives of the service.

The IGP said the people of Ghana would be watching how the police under his administration would perform and challenged police officers to live above reproach and to public expectation.