The Head of the Political Science Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr. Richard Amoako Baah has cast doubts over the viability of a bank to be set up by the Ghana Police Service.
The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Ahmed Alhassan, on a working visit to Hohoe in the Volta Region announced plans by the service to set up a bank to serve its personnel.
The announcement by the IGP has been met with mixed reactions from the public.
[contextly_sidebar id=”G9xEICPMWIBhlPvPsgLabjKmkmZ2L17c”]According to Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, there are so many ways of generating funds without necessarily opening a bank, and therefore charged the service to rather focus on maintaining law and order in the country
He argued that; “It’s not part of their core business, it’s not even related… I think if there were some relationship that would have been a different matter. But why do they need a special financial service?”
Speaking to Citi News, Dr. Richard Amoako Baah insisted that the Police Service does not have the financial capacity to pursue such a business venture.
A banking consult Nana Otuo Acheampong has however welcome the plan for a Police bank.
Responding to issues about how the service will raise the minimum capital requirement of GHC120 million, he said the service can start by opening a micro-finance institution before upgrading to a full fledged bank.
The Police Service will be the second security agency to announce such a plan after the Ghana Armed Forces.
Their army’s announcement also generated heated debate about whether the constitution allows for them to start such a venture.
Renowned lawyer Moses Foh Amoaning even threatened to sue the Ghana Armed Forced it went ahead to acquire the license to start operations.
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Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana