In the wake of a letter reportedly signed by Mr. Eugene Arhin, Communications Director at the Presidency, ordering the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. David Asante-Apeatu, to proceed on leave, with immediate effect, pending his official retirement which is set to expire on August 14, 2019, wagging tongues in the media are rife with talk suggesting that the IGP, whose term in office had earlier on been extended by the President for an extra two years because he was past the statutory age of regular active service, had been rudely shown the exit primarily because Mr. Asante-Apeatu had, somehow, undesirably surrounded himself with partisans of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). In the main, the recent resignation of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Mr. Peter Launchene Toobu, the IGP’s Executive-Secretary, has been cited by Mr. Kweku Baako, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, as likely one of the major reasons for the debacle of Mr. Asante-Apeatu.
On the latter count must be quickly pointed out that Mr. Launchene had reportedly resigned his post in order to contest as a parliamentary candidate on the ticket of the main opposition National Democratic Congress in one of the Wa, Upper-West Region’s, constituencies. Mr. Baako was quoted to have made the following remark: “The gentleman contesting for [sic] the NDC primaries who resigned: nobody can convince me that that was not a factor that led to this letter (proceed on leave letter). I know it was a factor and I disagree; it is a bad precedent.” The Editor-Publisher of the New Crusading Guide was also quoted as follows: “You cannot know the political leanings of a person at a sitting or at a glance. Those in charge now [,] do we know their political leanings? Really, if you use that against him [that is, the IGP], it worries me…. It’s an exercise that you don’t embark on, and when you do that [,] it comes with so many repercussions. If we don’t watch out [,] it will explode in our faces” (See “Kweku Baako on Why Asante-Apeatu was ‘Sacked’” Peacefmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 7/24/19).
This is a rather facile way for an experienced media wag and a major operative like Mr. Baako to attempt to second-guess Nana Akufo-Addo, although a remarkable number of Ghanaian citizens and regular viewers and listeners of Mr. Baako may be readily inclined to hew to his interpretation of the likely more complex chain of events that might have forced the hand of the President into allegedly showing Mr. Asante-Apeatu the exit or giving him the boot. For one, the way and manner in which the kidnapping of the Sekondi-Takoradi Girls, as of this writing still in captivity, was handled left much to be desired, vis-à-vis the way and manner in which the Kumasi kidnapping of the White-Canadian young volunteer women was handled. Nonetheless, I perfectly agree with Mr. Baako that the institution of the Ghana Police Service fundamentally and functionally transcends partisan politics, although the GPS has been heavily inflected by partisan political ideology ever since anybody can remember, including yours truly, of course.
Even more significantly, I am inclined towards giving the Presidency the proverbial benefit of the doubt, unlike Mr. Baako, because the chain of grievances or factors that might have led to the exit of Mr. Asante-Apeatu, with only one month to go on his contractual extension, may be far more fraught or leaden than is being rather facilely suggested by Mr. Baako, although I must admit that being resident smack on Ground Zero, as it were, the Editor-Publisher of the New Crusading Guide is far more likely to be in possession of more credible evidence or information to the foregoing effect, although the most accurate interpretation of such information may be a different species of quadruped altogether. And, indeed, as I confided to a good friend and host of “Power House,” the weekly current affairs program on which I am an active participant, on the Lawrenceville, Atlanta-Georgia-based radio station (Internet Radio Station) by the name of Klasik Radio, I am quite surprised that none of his most ardent and inveterate critics have not pointed out the fact that Mr. Asante-Apeatu is a native of Kyebi and may highly likely be a blood relative of the President.
Which is very different from how as President, Mr. John Dramani Mahama was known to deal with relatives and friends who either directly or indirectly served in his government. And here also, I am thinking of the Mahama relative who allegedly scammed the Ghanaian taxpayer silly, Woyome Style, by giving us the veritable White-Elephant that is the scandalously inflated $ 13 Million (USD) uncompleted boondoggle of a Vice-Presidential Villa or Mansion. Indeed, when this mega-scam come into the media limelight, even Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, the dynastic General-Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, thought the aforesaid architectural structure should not have cost the Ghanaian taxpayer more than $ 3-5 Million (USD) at the most. Which, by the way, is actually “moderately” inflated as well.
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