Security expert, Dr. Emmanuel Kwesi Aning says failure to adequately resource the Ghana Police Service (GPS) will create a “credibility problem for the government”.

President Mahama on his “Accounting to the people” tour confirmed government has received intelligence on a possible terror attack in the country after news of the possible attack broke out.

However, Dr. Aning said the absence of key logistics for the Service to do its work will cause Ghanaians to doubt the credibility of the intelligence government said it has received.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament at its sitting Tuesday, April 19 to cross-examine some public officials with regards to the Auditor-General’s report for 2011, 2012 and 2013, disclosed the Ghana Police Service has for some years been under-resourced.

Explaining the challenges the absence of resources have brought on the Police administration, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Kudalor, disclosed the Service’s capacity to combat crime has reduced as a result of that.

Deputy Interior Minister, James Agalga confirmed that the Service is under-resourced but added it was because of the challenges the economy is facing. He said the government will adequately resource the Police administration when the economy recovers.

But speaking on the Joy FM’s Top Story, Dr. Aning said it is totally unacceptable for government to “undercut their own very critical agency”.

He explained after the Justice Archer Commission report in 1997 which led to government’s conscious efforts to resource the Police administration, the Service has been under-resourced to date.  

The Archer Committee was a presidential commission set up to look into the Ghana Police Force and disclosed logistical challenges the Service was facing and why it is important for it to be equipped.

“How do you under-resource the institutions that are frontline institutions to be able to respond to the threats?” Dr. Aning asked.

“I am not taken aback”, he said adding government’s action “reflects a rather unnuanced understanding and appreciation of the role of the Police Service in ensuring that we are safe”.

He called on the Police administration to prioritize the logistics it considers key to the conduct of its work by doing a cost-benefit analysis.