Police Wives Advised To Stay Away From Partisan Politics

Wives of personnel of the Ghana Police Service have been seriously advised to stay away from partisan politics in order to safeguard the integrity of their husbands and the service especially in the run-up to the November 7^th Presidential and Parliamentary Election.

Mrs. Charity Kudalor, National President of the Police Wives Association (POLWA) who made the call whiles addressing members of the Association in Tamale during a peace march, charged them to beware that their husbands as security officers were prohibited from engaging in partisan politics, and that the wives were equally not allowed to do same.

The Tamale Peace March which is one of the series of peace awareness campaigns being organized by POLWA for all of its branches across Ghana, is aimed at drumming home the need for peace before, during and after the 2016 Election.

The Northern Region POLWA members led by the Regional President, Vivian Tang with support from the Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ken Yeboah marched through the principal streets of Tamale. 

Clad in white T-shirt and dancing to brass band music, members of POLWA were holding interesting placards with peace messages to inform onlookers who had lined up at both shoulders of the streets about the need for peace in the country.

Some of the messages on the placards read: “We are one people with one destiny”, “we want peace not war”, “train our children to love peace not violence”, “Ghana is bigger than you so save Ghana first”, and “politicians beware: Ghana is for all Ghanaians” among others.  

The Association also preceded the peace march with strong peace campaign on almost all the radio stations in the Tamale Metropolis to ensure the message got to the larger audiences. 

Mrs. Charity Kudalor who is also wife of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr. John Kudalor, said that the objective of the peace march was to create awareness of the need to maintain peace now, during and after the 2016 elections and also call on every individual to contribute their quota to promote peace by showing their solidarity or support to the Ghana Police Service in its efforts to maintain law and order in the country.

Mrs. Kudalor emphasized that the wives of the Police in Ghana had resolved to do everything humanly possible to make Ghana and the 2016 election a violent free, since their husbands would be at the forefront.

The Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ken Yeboah commended the POLWA members for their initiative and charged them to keep the fire burning. 

According to him, the expectation of the police was to ensure violence free election in the Northern Region considering the public perception that the area was violent prone region.

DCOP Yeboah reiterated his call on the media to be professional and refrain from sensationalism and imbalanced reportage in the run up to the elections.

He assured the public of the readiness of the Service to maintain law and order, and also to ensure the protection of lives and property before, during and after the election.

BloggingGhana, Penplusbytes Cautions IGP Against Ban On Social Media

BloggingGhana, a membership-based grass-roots social media organisation, and PenPlusBytes, a non-profit organisation committed to enhancing governance by deepening citizens’ participation through ICT, have expressed deep concern over the proposal of the Inspector General of Police (IGPs) to shut down social media platforms on election day.

“We share in the IGP’s sentiments about the excesses and security concerns that might come with the use of social media. However, a ban on social media is not the solution and such a ban will be a breach of citizens’ freedom of expression, a basic tenet of democracy,’’ the group stated.

In a statement, the group cited Article 21(a) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution which grants all citizens “freedom of speech and expression, which shall include freedom of the press and other media.”

Elections in Ghana, the group noted, had largely been considered free and fair because of citizen and media participation.

It pointed out that Ghana was a thriving democracy with a different context from Uganda, Niger and Turkey, who opted for social media blackouts in the past. 
A ban on social media is not a democratic practice, the group asserted.

It is the contention of BloggingGhana and PenPlusBytes that social media provides Ghanaians with a platform to participate in the monitoring of the election process in order to enhance transparency and national debate.

“Instead of a ban, the Police Administration must do what other thriving democracies have done and get on social media platforms to inform and engage with citizens,’’ the group underscored.

In Nigeria, the group said, the presence of the Nigerian Police, the armed forces, the central bank, statistical service, the Independent National Electoral Commission and several ministries on social media provided Nigerians, as well as other nationals and the media, with a vital tool to verify claims in real time.

In 2012, Ghana’s Electoral Commission released the election results on Facebook before it was formally declared by the Electoral Commissioner, the group pointed out.

While BloggingGhana and PenPlusBytes expressed appreciation to the IGP for his concerns about the abuse of social media, they expressed the belief that the presence of the Ghana Police Service on all the popular social media platforms to communicate, monitor and engage with the public would counter any false information.  

It stated that aside from promoting participatory democracy, it had been demonstrated that social media, with the right strategy, had been an important interface between the police and the public and a significant crime-fighting tool.

The statement added that the major challenge for the police extracting intelligence from social media was the sheer volume of information, but they had the power to act on information found through social media when they have the right skills, tools and processes in place.

This would enhance their work of monitoring, public outreach, investigations, improved community relationships and management of volatile situations. The platform also gives the police an opportunity to provide the media and Ghanaians with credible information.

In fact, about 86 per cent of law enforcement departments globally report utilising social media in criminal investigations, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the group added.

To help prevent the abuse of social media, the group suggested that the police have to establish a conspicuous and engaging presence on all the platforms to deter would-be abusers. Also, the police have to release a statement informing the general public that they will be monitoring social media and that people are liable to prosecution for what they put out there.

Decade Old Infrastructure Projects Abandoned At Tamale Polytechnic

Prof. Abdulai Salifu Asuro

The Authorities at the Tamale Polytechnic have expressed worry about government’s inability to release funds for the completion of some major infrastructural projects that were started some 10 years ago to enhance quality teaching and learning.

The Rector of the Polytechnic, Prof. Abdulai Salifu Asuro noted that a number of projects including the Library Complex, Lecture Halls and the 400-capacity ladies hostel had been abandoned and all the contactors vacated the sites due to what he described as “huge debts” they (contractors) had accumulated on such projects without corresponding payments GETFund.

Speaking at the 10^th Congregation of the Tamale Polytechnic, Prof Asuro observed that “Tamale Polytechnic has comparatively lagged behind over the years in infrastructural development. This is because some projects started a decade ago are yet to be completed and handed over to the Polytechnic. The main challenge has been lack of flow of funds to contractors to work on these projects”.

However, the Rector of Tamale Polytechnic commended the Government of Ghana through the National Council for Tertiary Education, the Ministry of Education and the GETFund for the continuous support on the growth and development of the Polytechnic. The Tamale Polytechnic is by far one of the oldest but most vulnerable institutions in Ghana especially when it comes to infrastructural provision.

Even though it remains one of the best performing Polytechnics in Ghana, the Institute is faced with a number of infrastructural problems including lecture halls, assemble halls, hostels, campus roads, streetlights and modern workshops among others. The road networks on the campus are nothing but a complete apology and most of the structures have far long exhausted their usefulness and begging replacement or renovation.

Meanwhile, the 10th Congregation of the Tamale Polytechnic awarded 1,429 graduates with Higher National Diploma (HND) Certificates in various disciplines for the 2015 graduating class. 

Out of the 1,429 graduands, 490 were awarded HND in Accountancy, 259 in Marketing, 58 in Agriculture Engineering, 41 in Mechanical Engineering and 245 in Secretaryship and Management Studies. In addition, 15 graduands were awarded HND certificates in Tourism, 101 in Statistics, 96 in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management, 46 in Building Technology and 31 and 47 in Industrial Arts and Electronics respectively.

The Rector of Tamale Polytechnic, Prof Abdulai Salifu Asuro stated that the crop of graduates from the school were readily available for industries because they had had a unique practical hands-on training coupled with supervised internship with reputable institutions, which he said had equipped them with the required practical know-how to start work with or without further training. 

According to him, the Polytechnic was set to introduce a number of industry-driven specialized programmes to produce the necessary problem-solving technocrats to support the country’s industrialization drive. The Rector disclosed that three new programmes namely; Bachelor of Technology in Agricultural Engineering, Bachelor of Technology in Accounting with Computing and HND Fashion and Design had been introduced in the school as part of effort of making the Tamale Polytechnic a learning centre of excellence.

However, Prof Asuro strongly appealed to the government and for that matter the Ministry of Education to find it urgent to include the Tamale Polytechnic in the selected polytechnics for the conversion into Technical Universities, since it remains the premier Polytechnic in the three regions of the North.

He also used the occasion to appeal to graduands to explore various opportunities to achieve their goals.

The Chairman of the Governing Council of the Tamale Polytechnic, Ambassador Alhaji Abdullah Salifu also added his voice to the call on government and GETfund to release funds for the completion of all the abandoned infrastructural projects.

On her part, the Minister for Education, Professor Nana Jane Opoku Agyeamang in a speech read on her behalf said Tamale Polytechnic and Cape Coast Polytechnic were being reassessed to be included in the selected Polytechnics for Technical University status.