Interior Minister, Mark Woyongo has directed the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Alhassan to immediately submit a detailed programme to effect mass transfers within the Service.

Mr. Woyongo says this has become necessary because, some police officers have stayed at one station “for too long” that they have compromised their professionalism and have become ineffective.  

Addressing a durbar of Police officers in Upper East Regional capital, Bolgatanga, Thursday, the Interior Minister ordered that officers who have served five years or more at one post should be moved to other stations for them to be more effective.

“People have stayed in one station for 20 to 30 years. It is not tenable at all. When you stay in a place for too long you become very stale; you become very ineffective [and] you compromise yourself so please let us have a programme for transfers,” he told the IGP, Mohammed Alhassan who was also at the durbar.

“If you [police officer] are posted to a place for five years [then] after the five years you have to go,” Mr. Woyongo stated amidst cheers from the police officers.

He however, cautioned the officers not to see transfers as a punishment but as an opportunity for them to bring to bear, knowledge acquired from their previous stations and also acquire new skills to perform better.

In response, the Inspector General of Police said transfers in the Service have been streamlined to align properly with the manpower capacity of the Service.

This “deliberate approach” he indicated, is “guided by the transfer policy recommended by the Archer committee and approved by cabinet”.

“Unlike before, this time we are doing these things [transfers] scientifically…We don’t do by-heart transfers anymore,” Mr. Alhassan stated.