Ghanaians have a responsibility of holding the Police Service accountable to its vision of delivering protective services that meet international standards, President Nana Addo has said.
“We should hold them [Police Service] to their vision to become a world-class service capable of delivering planned protective and peaceful services to the standards of international best practice in a democracy,” said the President in his address at the 62 Independence Day anniversary parade in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale on Wednesday.
While congratulating the security agencies for “their work and their readiness to put their lives on the line” for others, the President further urged the Service to “continue to be professional at all times.”
“Let me say a few words about our Police Service because we need a credible and professional Police Service to be able to have a peaceful and united society. We cannot have a successful Police Service without the cooperation of the population. The cooperation stands for giving respect to the Police and encouraging them to earn the trust of the people by serving the public with dedication,” the President added.
He indicated that the Police Service has launched a “new communication and education strategy that sets out explicitly how the service must conduct itself and engage in communication with the citizens of Ghana.”
‘Political violence shameful’
He also indicated his commitment to rid the country of all forms of political violence.
The President said the concept of political violence is shameful and offensive and must not be seen to be characteristic of the country’s democracy.
He said while some have tried to make a case for dictatorship and authoritarian rule in opposition to democracy, he believes that democracy has proved to be more stable for the country.
“Under a multiparty democracy, there will be a divergence of opinions. Indeed democracy thrives on debates, on passions, on arguments and sometimes even on raised voices. In the midst of the arguments and raised voices, there is and must always be mutual respect for the opposing viewpoints. Under a multiparty democracy, we must have elections that will invariably be keenly fought. There is no room and there should be no room for violence in this whole process,” he added.
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By: Marian Ansah | citinewsroom.com| Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah
