A heated exchange broke out Tuesday between the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohonu, and the Chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Abena Osei Asare, over how best to address violent attacks on police stations in volatile communities.
The debate was triggered when the IGP suggested that communities seeking police presence should construct their own stations. He argued that government-funded facilities have often been the main targets of mob attacks, while community-funded ones were spared.
“We have one police station, which is a divisional headquarters built by the government and another built by the locals. When they wanted to attack, they went to the one built by the government. They came to the other and someone said, ‘No, this one is built by the MP, let’s not touch it.’
“So today, if you ask us to open a police station, we will ask you to build the police station yourself,” the IGP explained.
But his position was swiftly challenged by PAC Chair Abena Osei Asare, who argued that such a policy would undermine the police’s constitutional mandate to protect lives and property across all communities.
“Mr. IGP, that cannot be the response because there are several places in this country where mobs have attacked police stations, but we never hear that police stations have been closed down. For me, I don’t think that should be the response. It’s like saying the fact that your child urinates on your lap means you should cut it off,” she retorted.
Mrs. Osei Asare urged the Police Service to instead strengthen engagement with communities, rebuild trust, and consider sanctions to deter attacks.
“What can you do to help strengthen your engagement in the community there, so that they see that you are there to protect them and they are also there to discharge their rights as citizens?” she pressed.
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