A private legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong, has said the resignation of the wife of the late Ekow Quansah Hayford, Ophelia Hayford from the Police Service to take up a new parliamentary role is not unconstitutional.

According to him, Ophelia Hayford did not breach the law adding that there are spelt out exceptions that allow her to resign before the stipulated time.

He was speaking on the back of some comments from individuals who were of the view that Ophelia Hayford did not follow due process in resigning from the Service which was referenced in Act 113 of the Police Service Commission Regulation.

Act 113 states, “An officer who wishes to resign from the service shall give 30 days’ notice in writing to the Inspector General of the intention to resign. The notice shall be submitted through the officer’s immediate senior officer and the date on which it is received by the senior officer shall be taken as the date on which it was submitted to the Inspector-General.”

However, legal practitioner Yaw Oppong said there are spelt out exceptions quoting regulation 116.

“Regulation 116 which also captures voluntary retirement states that an ‘officer may retire from the service at any time upon reaching the age of 45. An officer who wishes to retire on attaining 45 years shall give three months’ written notice to the Inspector-General, but the Inspector-General may under exceptional circumstances waive the three months.”

He further cited section 117 of the regulation which talks about premature retirement to argue that the former police officer did not breach the law.

“A member of the service who wishes to retire at an earlier date before reaching the voluntary retiring age may retire at an earlier time with the consent of the council in the case of a senior police officer. Then a subordinate officer may retire at an earlier age with the consent of the Inspector General, provided that officer has served for 10 years.”

“Any police officer who finds herself in her position may take the benefit of 116 and 117 instead of going under 113 under resignation. Especially in her case, she has served for more than 20 years. And she is more than 45 years; she needs not to go under 113 at all, even if she did, she can be captured under voluntary retirement under 116 and there will not be any problem at all,” Yaw Oppong explained.