The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute for Security, Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr. Ishmael Norman, has expressed displeasure and criticized the Ghana Police for the way and manner they control charged crowd in the country.
Speaking about the rampage which followed the death of 27-year-old, Albert Donkor in Nkoranza in the Bono East Region, he stated that the method used by the Ghana Police when it comes to crowd control and citizens expressing their anger towards government is wrong.
Dr. Norman stated that the method the Police is using is not meant for peaceful management or de-escalation of conflict between section of the public and the Police.
“The manual they are using is the Incident and Police Order Management Manual. It is designed to provide direction and information to assist commanders, planners, advisors to prepare for and manage where there is risk. The whole point of this is false; you do not deal with citizens’ occasional outbursts towards their government to show their displeasure with this kind of manual.”
Dr. Ishmael Norman
According to Dr. Norman, what the Police needs is Critical Incident Decision-making Module that will take them through, systematically, how to go about de-escalating the anger of the population against their government. “They have a right to be angry towards their government, towards a Police unit that is not doing right things.”
Ghanaians shouldn’t attack Police stations
Also contributing to the discussion, the Wa West Member of Parliament, Peter Lanchene Toobu, stated that under no circumstance should any Ghanaian attack a Police Station or government facilities anywhere in the country.
According to Mr. Toobu, the facilities were built using the tax payers money, as such, attacking or destroying it means wasting public money.
“After all, it is our money that has been used to build those facilities. Even as much as you are angry, when you go to attack the police station, you are virtually telling yourself that yes, it is my money I used to build it and I am going to destroy it.”
Peter Lanchene Toobu
Mr. Toobu suggested that prominent and influential persons from the community can be used in resolving such issues to bring calm. He added that those are the type of people security personnel are to engage when there is violence so they will be able to de-escalate the violence.
“You can have one influential person in the Nkoranza area who can carry more weight than the soldiers and the Police put together in Nkoranza, whose voice would be heard loud and respected by the people of Nkoranza.
“There are a number of things we can do behind the scenes and not necessarily firing live bullets because when one person died, the police responded, another person is dead again then you ask yourself, is this the way of de-escalating crowd.”
Peter Lanchene Toobu
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