Though the supply of uniforms to personnel of the Ghana Police Service, according to Section 28 of the Police Service Act 1970 (ACT 350), is supposed to be free, The Chronicle’s investigation has revealed that some of the personnel are still doling out various sums of money from their own pockets to purchase the uniform from illegal sources within the service.
The sale, which is contrary to the rules of the service, occurs at no mean a place than the 37 Service Workshop, close to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA), in Accra, where the uniforms are sewn and distributed periodically to personnel.
The Chronicle established that the unfortunate development has emerged because most of the personnel like the camouflage uniform, and are, therefore, ready to pay for supply from the illegal source for it to be sewn for him or her. The camouflage, also called ‘camou’, appears like the design of an army uniform, but with navy blue and cream colours combined.
Some of the personnel who spoke to The Chronicle said the ‘camou’ looks good on them and would opt for it any day, but the authorities always tell them they are in short supply, but those who are ready to pay from their own pockets readily get them.
It is public knowledge that uniforms of all state security personnel are sewn at their various workshops and distributed to them for free on a regular basis. To get to the bottom of this illegal sale within the service, The Chronicle feigned interest in purchasing a uniform, not from anywhere, but at the service workshop, where officers are paid by the state to sew these uniforms.
The paper’s intelligence managed to secure the telephone of a lady Sergeant, Anna Ama Pomaa, a seamstress, who is said to be the kingpin behind this illegal business in no other place but the Police Service. In a phone interview with this paper, Sergeant Ama Pomaa admitted she works at the 37 Service Workshop and was ready to sew a uniform for us.
To place on record, she inquired to know if the person speaking with her on phone was a civilian or personnel – the response was the latter. In fact, The Chronicle gave the name Lance Corporal Asare from Shai Osudoku. Lance Corporal Asare (The Chronicle reporter) then proposed to meet Sergeant Anna Ama Pomaa to strike the deal on Friday night.
She did not, however, agree to the Friday night meeting and rather proposed a meeting in the morning, to which Cpl Asare (not real) agreed. “…come tomorrow early morning you meet me at the Service Workshop, License Office opposite,” she said. She was willing to meet this paper at the 37 DVLA Workshop as early as 7am to transact business with her ‘new client’.
“The uniform; I have the Chinese collar; I have the black one – the already sewn one, but that one I use my own material to sew. The check-check one. That one is GH¢350 with the cap, and then I have ‘camou’; the Kudalor one. That one too, including sewing and the cap, that one is GH¢550, and then I have different materials…” she told this paper over the telephone.
Our investigation also uncovered that apart from the deeds of this female Sergeant, there are unconfirmed reports that some of the Quarter Masters are also doing same.
The Quarter Master, this paper was told, is in charge of the uniforms at the specific depot where personnel could go to collect them if need be. Some of the serving personnel alleged that these quarter masters always demand ‘something small’ before the uniforms are given to them.
Unlike Sergeant Anna Ama Pomaa at the Service Workshop, these Quarter Masters, whose acts were reported to this paper by the personnel, do not have a fixed amount. They only expect a token “for credit”, this paper was told.
Meanwhile, in a telephone interview with The Chronicle, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), Superintendent Sheila Abayie-Buckman, indicated that the uniforms are giving to personnel for free at training, and periodically after pass-out. She also stated that it was unlawful for the uniforms of the service to be sold.
The reporter did not explain to her (Abayie-Buckman) the story he was doing, but sought her general view on how uniforms are supplied to the personnel of her outfit, and whether it was legal for the uniform to be sold to the personnel. Her explanation confirms the provisions of Section 28 of the Police Service Act 1970 (ACT 350), which talks about unlawful possession of the uniform and other property.
Section 28 (2) states: “Every police officer shall on ceasing to hold and exercise his office forthwith deliver over all the clothing, arms, accoutrements and equipment supplied to him free of charge for the execution of his duty, or taken by him into his possession for the execution of his duty to the superior police officer under whom he is serving, and if he fails to do so, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two hundred new cedis, or to imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or to both.”
But this provision notwithstanding, some of the personnel told The Chronicle that they are compelled to purchase the uniform with their money, because the supposed free uniforms were not forthcoming, and that they could not go to work naked or with different attire.
They further alleged that if they do not purchase from the Service Workshop, they may go to the open market to look for the material to purchase and get someone to sew for them at their expense.
Meanwhile, The Chronicle is still probing other related ‘rot’ in the Police Service and would, at the appropriate, time publish them.
The post Despite millions in budgetary allocations: Police Uniforms For Sale @ Barracks; Personnel forking out GH¢350 & GH¢550 to purchase them appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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