Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzo, has praised President-Elect John Dramani Mahama for giving assurances that new recruits of the various security services undergoing training would not be fired.
Speaking in an interview on Radio Gold, on December 14, 2024, ACP Agordzo said that sacking the new recruits would be devastating because of the high rate of joblessness in the country.
The retired police officer then recalled how new recruits of the Ghana Police Service were sacked by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government after assuming office in 2017.
“One of the things that made me happy this morning and part of yesterday was when the former president said that he will not sack any recruits in training in the security training schools… First of all, there are no jobs. So people get jobs, and once they get jobs, their families are also excited. Then all of a sudden, the news is going around that they may be sacked when a particular political party takes over.
“I’ve heard that and I’m not surprised because if you remember, after the 2016 election, certain people were in, certain people, certain recruits, police recruits were sacked by this government. They were in training, some of them even passed out but there were those in training, some of them were sacked,” he said.
He added, “That issue is coming up again. So that assurance (is important), and I am not saying this based on political whatever, I’m saying this based on the fact that people must live and live well. People must have some satisfaction and people must feed. So that assurance for me is very important.”
ACP Dr. Benjamin Agordzo indicated that the reason given for the sacking of the new recruits back then did not make sense.
He said that the only reason given was that the recruits did not meet the criteria for recruitment after all the processes they had gone through.
“Some of us have institutional memories on some of these issues. So when we speak, those who are listening to me know that what I’m saying is true. Certain people were removed because they said that they did not meet the criteria for recruitment. I don’t know any other details apart from what I’m telling you.
“So I’m saying that it is good that there’s an assurance coming from the former president that, look, this will not be repeated. And for me, I’m so happy,” he reiterated.
Watch his remarks in the video below:
ACP (Rtd) Dr. Benjamin Agordzo talks about how the NPP on assuming power in 2017 sacked recruits at the police training school. pic.twitter.com/FSodMe2Wem
— Radio Gold 90.5FM (@radiogold905fm) December 15, 2024
BAI/EK
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