Ibrahim Adjei, former Assistant Secretary at the Office of former President Nana Akufo-Addo, has raised strong objections to the comments made by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Christian Tetteh Yohuno, describing them as a dangerous move that indirectly incentivises violence among the youth.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Monday, April 14, Adjei condemned the IGP’s promise to prioritise youth in Bawku for police recruitment on the condition that they lay down their arms.
He mentioned that such a statement risks undermining years of peace-building efforts and sets a precedent that violence is a viable path to opportunity.
The IGP made the comments during a visit to Bawku on Friday, April 11, assuring residents that a special police recruitment team would be stationed in the area to enlist youth who embrace peace. The initiative, according to the IGP, is part of broader efforts to stabilise the conflict-prone region.
However, Ibrahim Adjei argued that the IGP’s message sends the wrong signal, especially in a fragile security environment where incentives should be aligned with lawfulness, not conflict.
He also took issue with the IGP’s subsequent clarification that the recruitment offer was part of a decentralised strategy aimed at achieving regional balance. Adjei dismissed the clarification as flawed.
According to him, the remarks have the potential to undermine the integrity of the Ghana Police Service’s recruitment process and cast doubt on its fairness and neutrality.
“To make such a pronouncement seems to unravel all the peace effort that we are doing. The IGP is somehow incentivising the youth by showing them that violence creates opportunities, and his clarification also doesn’t hold water. Recruitment into the police is already decentralised. So, that clarification has rather made things worse.
“Because people can look to the reality and say, how do you say that you aimed to decentralize the recruitment process and make it a regional balance, that is already on the ground. By his pronouncement, what he is doing is undermining the recruitment process.
“What the IGP should do is retract. That is not for our sake but the community of Bawku. And the clarification doesn’t help, but rather makes things worse,” he stated.
However, the Former Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Ade Coker has endorsed the Inspector-General of Police’s (IGP) proposal to recruit youth from Bawku into the police service, describing it as a step toward unity and lasting peace in the conflict-prone area.