Linda Akrasi Kotey
30 October 2007
THE INSPECTOR General of Police, Mr. Patrick Kwarteng-Acheampong, yesterday put up a spectacular show contrary to expectations that the Ghana Police Service would be caught in the web of corruption, as it had been the case in almost all the public institutions which had appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament.
Mr. Acheampong justified all the expenditures made by the police administration confidently and finally caught the admiration of the members of the committee who were beaming with smiles throughout his presentation.
The Auditor-General queried the Accra Regional Police over the improper keeping of exhibits held by the police stations in Accra, adding that some of the exhibits were not kept at the stations but were in the personal custody of officers handling the cases.
The IGP explained that the nature of most exhibits needed proper security and well-constructed store rooms as well as strong buildings, but most of their offices were in rented quarters that did not have such facilities.
He added that even where the buildings belonged to the police, they were old and congested. Mr. Acheampong noted that in some instances, cash exhibits were required to be tendered in as evidence taken from the scenes of crime, stressing that in such instances the serial numbers of such monies must be recorded and for that reason, it was not possible to lodge them into bank accounts.
He assured members that the police administration continued to educate personnel on management of exhibits through seminars and various courses and also there were sections of the service instructions that dealt with the management of exhibits.
The auditors therefore recommended that in order to improve control over exhibits, exhibits should be kept at police stations under proper custody and not with case officers. "Also, cash exhibits registers should be properly maintained and reviewed periodically by a superior officer," the auditors advised.
The service was also queried on the utilisation of ¢2.6 billion by the police hospital out of which ¢2, 789,699,924 was collected as revenue and further paid the balance of ¢229,149,630 into its own account contrary to Section 149 of the Financial Administration Regulation which required that that government revenue collected be paid intact into the consolidated fund and no disbursement must be made from it.
The IGP told the committee that the police hospital which was one of the few public hospitals opened to the public in times of crisis in the health delivery system, considering the fact that subvention for managing the hospital was inadequate the police had to depend on the Internally Generated Fund (IGF).
He mentioned that the Ministry of Finance had proposed 100% retention of IGF for the police hospital with a provision that it should be used to defray expenses incurred in the provision of services that resulted in the generation of the revenue. However, Parliament had passed a law, giving it legal backing for utilisation of IGF.
The service responded to other queries that were posed at the sitting.
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