Strong institutions need strong leaders to ensure they work, says renowned lawyer, Ace Ankomah.

Speaking in reference to a speech delivered by the former President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama when he visited Accra, Ace Ankomah explained that Mr. Obama’s assertion that strong institutions were all that was needed for development was flawed.

According to him, there are strong institutions in the country, however, due to their poor leadership, many have been rendered paper tigers.

“You can have the strong institutions but if you don’t have the leadership, the men and women with the spine, to take advantage of the strong institutions on paper, they remain strong institutions on paper, and that has been Ghana’s problem,” he said on JoyNews’ Newsfile Saturday, October 30.

His comments were in relation to the bold strides the Ghana Police Service has made under the new leadership of Inspector General of Police Dr. George Akuffo Dampare.

Dr. Dampare’s young tenure has seen expedited applications of the rule of law in pursuit of law and order, garnering support and admiration from Ghanaians, especially on social media.

According to Ace Ankomah, “The police is a very strong institution but on paper. Every law that the police needs to make sure that this country is safe exists on paper, we’re just unwilling, unprepared or unable to put those laws into practice because the one who leads is not strong.

“And so Obama’s mistake was the ‘but’, what we need are strong institutions run by strong men and women and so when those two meet then you begin to see results like this.”

He’s hopeful that should George Dampare be left to do his work as he’s doing now, sanity and professionalism would be returned to the Ghana Police Service and faith in the Police would increase.

“So it’s not necessarily about the man or woman in the leadership position, it is about the institution and the leader, the vision the leader brings to the institution, that is what shapes it and keeps it going,” he said.