General News of Sunday, 29 January 2017

Source: 3news.com

Timbilla could be a scapegoat – Ade Coker suggests

COP Patrick Timbilla play videoCOP Patrick Timbilla

The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress suspects COP Patrick Timbilla was sacrificed to cover others in a rather murky police recruitment scandal. Over hundred thousand cedis was involved in the yet biggest recruitment scandal to have rocked the Ghana Police Service in recent years with the involvement of a high profile officer.

After two years of investigations, the police administration sacked the former Director General in-charge of Human Resources at the Ghana Police Service, COP Patrick Timbilla for his alleged role in the recruitment scam.

He was interdicted after briefly being placed under house arrest when his cover was blown under former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Alhassan. But his dismissal came days before Mr. Alhassan’s successor John Kudalor left office. Contributing to TV3/3FM 92.7 New Day show on Saturday, the NDC regional chairman Mr. Ade Coker demanded that the full report of the investigations is made public to expose others involved in the scandal.

“We need to have a full report of what transpired. I don’t think it’s only COP Timbilla who was involved, there must be somebody, a lot more people involved; he shouldn’t be made a scapegoat,” he clearly stated.

He however commended the police administration for trying to instill discipline in the security agency, backing position held by his co-panelists that the dismissal was “a step in the right direction”. “Members of the police service should be above this kind of scam in order not to give the police a bad name,” he remarked.

Mr. Coker felt sorry for Mr. Timbilla, and having known him personally, “I am surprised a person of his stature would be involved in a recruitment scandal.” A member of the governing New Patriotic Party’s communication team, John Kumah agreed with Mr. Ade Coker on the score that more people could be culpable in the service.

“If you look at the extent of the scandal, you cannot single out an individual as the only person who was involved…you should be seeing more than one person being dismissed from the police service…it is not enough just to dismiss one person,” he opined.