Some lawyers are calling for the amendment of the constitutional right of the president to appoint the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in order to insulate the Police Administration from executive influence. Doing this, they argue, will make the service more independent and allow its personnel to execute their duties without fear or favour. Lawyer and Businessman, Mr E.B Takyi Micah, who spoke on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday, explained that there are countless instances where police officers have been sanctioned for ‘stepping on toes’ of persons who belong to a ruling party or have links to others in power but have flouted the laws of the land. The current situation where the executive can appoint and dismiss top personnel in the Police Service, he maintained, has given the president “a very dangerous weapon” and that “…A rogue government can use it to our peril.” Mr Takyi-Micah’s comments follow what he said was the impunity with which certain individuals have conducted themselves during the ongoing biometric exercise. It has been characterized by violence in some parts of the country, including the Odododiodoo constituency in the Greater Accra Region where two members of the opposition New Patriotic Party were assaulted when they toured some registration centres in that locality. Calls for the resignation of the IGP as well as other top policemen by the two main political parties have heightened. But the lawyer holds the view that the police will better handle these incidences if they have total independence. He said just as is the case for the Judicial Service – where the president appoints the Chief Justice and other senior judicial officers but cannot dismiss them unless on stated grounds of misbehavior or infirmity of mind and body – the president should not have the authority to dismiss top policemen at his whim. “So a police officer can wake up in the morning and look up to a day’s work and not be afraid that because he did his work very well he will be sanctioned.” “Yes, ultimate security responsibility belongs to government but there should be as little interference having equipped the police adequately…,” he insisted. The businessman also called for the decentralization of the authority of the police service to enable officers in the various regions to properly manage law and order in their respective localities. Meanwhile a Law Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Mr Kofi Abotsi who also spoke on the programme, agreed but was not sure whether total independence of the Police from government would be a good move. He said a second look must be taken concerning the appointment of top police personnel as well as putting in place safeguards and control mechanisms over executive power in terms of demotions and dismissals. Lawyer Abotshi added that just as it is done in the Judicial Service, the executive must provide a basis to sanction any officer. But in a sharp disagreement, Lawyer and Former Police Officer Mr Addo Atua, argued that weaning the police off the control of the executive would be like taking from government the ultimate responsibility of ensuring the security of the nation. “I do not indeed subscribe to a situation where anyone would make the Police Administration independent because you would come up with an incongruous situation where you would then be depriving the executive from exercising its power of maintaining law and order.” He said the perceived fear that once the IGP is appointed by the president he would “shut his eyes to blatant lawlessness committed by members of perceived political party…” was largely exaggerated and unfounded. According to him, there has been instances, for instance where persons belonging to a ruling party have been prosecuted and convicted for committing crimes. He however said such complaints should create an avenue for improvement in the conduct of the duties of the police but cautioned that “we (Ghanaians) should not be overly anxious about the situation…” But Lawyer Takyi Micah vehemently disagreed with the line of thought of the former police officer and maintained that the power to sanction officers should be taken from the president. “In this country we are witnesses of sanctions that have been meted out to police officers because they stepped on toes. And these…officers even do not have any avenue to tell their stories…What happened to that investigator who investigated the unfortunate murder of the judges? He went to jail...” “We are only appealing to the conscience of those who have been put in charge to safeguard the security of this country… "What happened at Odododiodoo is a screaming testimony of what is going on now. We are only appealing to the…senior police officers: Be neutral,” Lawyer Takyi-Micah urged, hoping that doing this will ensure a peaceful election in December.