Senior Vice President and Policy Analyst with Imani Ghana, Kofi Bentil says the presence and leadership of the Inspector General of Police Dr George Akufo Dampare has had a massive effect on the security force.

According to him, the new leadership has enhanced the stature of the force and created a renewed confidence in the service.

“In my work, like you, we deal with a lot of police personnel and I have to say a few of them are a disgrace to the service. But the vast majority do a very good job. And especially recently, the leadership of the Ghana Police has enhanced the stature of the police and we can see the difference,” he said on Newsfile.

Mr. Bentil added that, “Nobody can tell me that the leadership and the person of IGP Dampare has no effect. So you have this cascading arrangement where the presence of IGP Dampare creates a lot of confidence. We shouldn't take that for granted. It's not because I want to worship Dampare. We know how it plays on the field and that creates security and that affects election”.

Using the recent by-elections as an example, he noted that there was barely any violence or insecurity recorded because of the work the police put in.

This comes after a leaked secret tape revealed a supposed plot to replace the IGP as part of a grand strategy by the governing party to rig the election 2024.

The tape does not identify any person by name, but the people involved supposedly include a top police officer and a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

But reacting to the tape, Interior Minister Ambrose Dery said the IGP has been exceptional in the delivery of his duties and there are no efforts to take him out of office.

Read more: There’s no plot to remove IGP – Interior Minister

Meanwhile, the NDC Caucus in Parliament is pushing for a bipartisan investigation into the alleged plot to remove the IGP and suggestions of rigging the 2024 general elections.

However, Kofi Bentil believes that the NDC seeking the protection of the IGP appointed by the governing NPP, shows the work he has put in to make the force a good one.

“Those things are important in the nation. So we need to appreciate that the work that IGP Dampare has done has come to the point where the NDC today feels a certain need to more or less protect him. It's a happy problem. We need to celebrate those little wins,” he said.

Mr Bentil added that confidence in the security forces during elections is important for a free and fair process to ensue.

“Anybody who says that security is not fundamental to election integrity, it's not being, you know, honest with the truth. One of the ways to rig an election or to compromise it is to attack the security of the election. If people are not confident that they will be secure going to cast their vote, the electorate will not go to vote.”

“It will take only die-hard supporters going to vote. If we know therefore that security is consequential in having a free and fair election, then we have to ask ourselves who gives confidence today in Ghana when it comes to general security? Let us not take for granted the last few or one or two by-elections we've had.”