A police sergeant claims Deputy IGP ordered defiance of administrative orders

In a sworn court filing, a Ghana Police Service sergeant claimed that Deputy Inspector-General of Police Christian Tetteh Yohuno had given him and ten other officers orders to disregard Police Administration directives.

In a High Court case for an Order of Judicial Review, Sergeant David Ojeyim asserted that the Deputy Inspector-General of Police had given him direct orders to disregard a Police Signal.

“Since the team engaged for the assignment was under the command and instruction of the Deputy IGP, we informed him on 2 October 2024 about the transfer signal, and he told us not to comply with it,” Sgt. Ojeyim said in paragraph 18 of his sworn evidence. We also followed his instructions to enter information in the station journal.

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Sgt. Ojeyim, a member of the Police Intelligence Directorate (PID), claims that ASP Jalil Bawa of the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) recruited him and eleven other officers in response to Mr. Yohuno’s directives for an “Intelligence Gathering” operation known as “Operation D-Day.”

But since the order was purportedly from the Deputy IGP, they followed it.

Sgt. Ojeyim went on to say in his deposition that a WhatsApp group was created to facilitate coordination of their work during “Operation D-Day.” He received a transfer directive during this time that required him and a few other team members to move from Accra.

When Sgt. Ojeyim informed the Deputy IGP about the transfer order, he said they were told to ignore it since it was “dubious and without basis.”

Given that defying orders is regarded as mutiny, the most serious disciplinary offense in the security services, the accusation calls into question the discipline of the Ghana Police Service.

Such institutions mostly rely on a “Command and Control” system for discipline.

There appears to have been a serious breakdown in hierarchy and discipline when lower officers claim that the second-highest-ranked commander ordered them to disregard instructions.

Since then, the officers who disregarded the transfer command have been placed under interdiction while a service investigation is conducted.

Any disciplinary action, however, will have to wait until the judicial processes are over because the case is currently before the High Judicial.

Awaiting the court’s acceptance of the testimony, it is unclear what this means for Deputy IGP Christian Yohuno.

 

Source: Adom Online