ACP Dr. Benjamin Kwasi Agordzo, a senior officer of the Ghana Police Service accused of abetting an overthrow of the government and acquitted by an Accra High Court, has disclosed what he thinks led to his accusation and arrest.
Dr. Agordzo says his ordeal started after voicing out at an Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) workshop, the composition of the Police Council and how things are run in the Service.
At the said event, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) had critiqued the status quo, indicating political interference does not give the police the free hand to operate on its own.
According to him, even though his vituperations were not targeted at the incumbent government or any specific government, the party in power took offence for it, and subjected him to the embarrassment he went through for the past five years.
Speaking in an interview with TV3’s Keminni Amanor on Hot Issues on Sunday, January 28, 2024, edition, ACP Agordzo said he was cautioned to be watchful after the IDEG programme by persons closer to the helm of power.
“This whole thing started from the IDEG presentation that I did in 2018 where I critiqued not sitting government, but a system in place where the Police Council is dominated by the party and the government in power and for that matter, we could not have an independent police operating.
“Because definitely they’re in your hands and you could move them. You could move the IGP anywhere anytime and the Commissioners could be moved anyhow. The President at any point in time could instruct where a particular Commissioner should be because it is part of the constitution and therefore I critiqued that system.
“And I think from that point looking at the people at the workshop, and the fact that defence intelligence, CID, the police capos and other things, people were there, once you begin to talk about this kind of thing in a tough way, and especially in uniform as an Assistant Commissioner, you’re on national security radar and they’ll be watching you and even after my presentation, a lot of friends, even from their own side called me to say; ”be careful they’re looking out for you. The least thing you do, they’ll take you on” so I wasn’t surprised,” he explained.