UN repatriates Ghana Police peacekeepers accused of sexual misconduct

• Posted on May 31, 2018
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Ghanaian police peacekeepers indicted by the United Nations for sexual misconduct in South Sudan last February were repatriated to Accra Wednesday.

There was no official information on their arrival, particularly the number of personnel repatriated as well as the outcome of the investigations into the scandal.

Last week, the Director General of the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards, COP Kofi Boakye revealed the IGP’s team to Sudan had completed its investigations and was awaiting the results of the UN investigators to “compare notes in order to have a compete and comprehensive report”.

He added “Meanwhile the police men are still in South Sudan”.

Notwithstanding, the personnel, who are members of the Formed Police Unit, touched down at the Kotoka International Airport in a chartered flight at exactly 1:30pm

Background

A total of 46 personnel of the Formed Police Unit of the Ghana Police Service were on February 22 recalled from Wau and confined to a base in Juba after a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual exploitation.

According to the UN, it received information that the Ghanaian personnel were allegedly engaged in transactional sex clear breach of the UN and UNMISS Code of Conduct that prohibits sexual relationships with vulnerable individuals.

Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, ACP David Eklu stated at the time that the alleged conduct of the personnel has put the “image of the police service into disrepute,” assuring an inquiry proceedings will be instituted against them on their return

“The necessary administrative inquiry will be conducted upon their return and if they’re found guilty they may be reduced in rank or removed from the service,” he said on Sunrise Morning show on February 26.

The Police, he said, wrote to the UN to grant it permission to send a team from Ghana to South Sudan to have firsthand information about the sexual scandal.

Checks by 3News revealed that the Ghana Police Service which requested an independent investigation into the allegation is said to have completed its work awaiting judgment from the United Nations.

The Police would however not disclose the findings.

-3news