Journalists across the country have hailed the reactivation of the Police Public Affairs Units in all Regional Commands of the Ghana Police Service by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Christian Tetteh Yohuno.
In their opinion, this will not only reset the Police-Media partnership but will also go a long way to ensure a free flow of information, thereby facilitating their work.
Dampare’s obnoxious directive
All Police Public Affairs Units in the various Regional Commands were shut down during the tenure of the immediate-past IGP, Dr. George Akufo Dampare, leaving only the Public Affairs Unit at the national headquarters, for reasons yet to be explained.
Despite persistent calls by the media, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare never bothered to rescind his decision, thereby making access to basic information by the media, especially in the regions and districts very difficult.
Reopening by Yohuno
But at a 3-day workshop at the Detective Training Academy at Tesano in Accra recently for Police Public Relations Officers in readiness to decentralize information to the public, the newly sworn in IGP, Mr. Christian Tetteh-Yohuno, announced plans to lift the ban on police personnel engaging with the media, a restriction imposed by his predecessor, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.
In Mr. Yohuno’s view, combating rising crime requires public cooperation, as effective policing hinges on strong engagement between law enforcement and the community.
“At a time when the public demands greater accountability in our service delivery, a well-tested approach ensures police legitimacy and builds public confidence……It is on this premise that the current police administration under my leadership will reactivate and revert all regional police affairs offices to interact and meet the evolving demands of our society and media partners,” Mr. Yohuno stated.
Yohuno applauded
In separate interviews with rbnewshub.com some senior journalists applauded the IGP’s move as it will ultimately inure to the benefit of the general public.
While expressing his disappointment in Dr. Dampare’s infamous decision to ban Police-media interactions at the regional level, Mr. Tony Goode of GBC’s Radio B.A.R in Sunyani said: “l support the move of the new IGP.”
“The media were gagged under Dampare. We have our freedom now, thanks to the new IGP Yohuno. Thumbs up to him!”, Francis Dabang, a Bolgatanga-based journalist also said.
Precious Semevor of the Multi-Media Group described the former IGP’s action as “counter-productive” as it hampered the flow of information, especially from people who appreciate the local dynamics.
“It also ensured that the media, and subsequently the public, were denied detailed key information on happenings within their localities. It was a huge dent on the image of the Ghana Police Service as it was seen as a grand scheme to control the amount of information to the public and churn out massaged information to suit the image of the service instead of the real situations on the ground.
Mr. Semevor maintained that it was needless for journalists in Sunyani, for instance, to wait for confirmation of information from the Police headquarters in Accra about issues that happened in their localities, adding that: “There are a lot of local stories that died naturally because journalists in the communities could not follow up on them from the Police Headquarters Accra.”
For his part, Mr. Michael Sarpong-Mfum of Channel One TV could not hide his joy over Mr. Yohuno’s directive.
“I am very happy with the directive from the new IGP because it is going to enhance my work. Because the previous directive under Dampare was not helpful, when something happened, you were asked to call Accra, which was not helping my work. With this new directive, if I need any information from the police, I will just walk to the PRO’s office to get it”
Another Senior Journalist in the West Africa sub-region, Mr. Daniel Yao Dayee, observed that democracy thrives on information and that the Ghana Police Service is one of the biggest sources of information due to the nature of its work.
Mr. Dayee, who writes for an Accra-based tabloid, The Daily Guide, said: “We welcome it and it’s good for our work. The decision of the former IGP to centralize this was in bad taste because it inhibited information flow and was bad for our work. I blame the GJA for its inability to hold the IGP to democratic tenets but had to kowtow to this rather obnoxious directive by Dr. Dampare.
“Because, in as much as the police service is a constitutionally mandated body responsible for law enforcement, the media are also recognized by the constitution so the former IGP was wrong for that decision he made. So, it is good news that the new IG has brought it back. It was a way of stifling information for their corrupt agenda”, he told rbnewshub.com.
The Bono Regional Correspondent of the Ghanaian Times newspaper, Daniel Dzirasah, also hailed this development saying: “I think it is a welcoming news. It is really going to greatly help our work as journalists. Media practitioners have suffered greatly for the past four years with the closure of PR units of the police service, which curtailed information flow between the police and media.
According to him, journalists faced a lot of frustrations in seeking confirmation from the police when the need arose.
