Claim: Two claims about police-citizen ratio
Source: John Mahama
Verdict: 1 PARTLY TRUE, 1 FALSE
Researched Alfa Shaban
The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, John Mahama, has reiterated the importance of increasing Ghana’s police workforce to the successful implementation of the 24-hour economy policy.
On one of the campaign tours at the Benaba Market Square in the Zebilla Constituency of the Upper East Region, on August 4, 2024, the former President claimed Ghana had a police-to-citizen deficit citing an internationally accepted metric, the UN ratio.
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“The 24-hour economic policy requires security and safety. Currently, Ghana has about 30,000 police officers for almost 30 million people. Now the UN says that the optimum figure for police to citizen ratio is one police officer to 450 citizens, population. In Ghana, you know how many we are, it is one policeman to almost 1,000 citizens. So, it means we need to employ more police officers, military officers and security services,” he said. (20:00 minutes to 20:45 minutes.)
This fact-check is set out to answer the following questions:
- Does the United Nations have a police-citizen recommended ratio of 1:450?
- Does Ghana have a 1:1000 police-citizen ratio?
Fact-check 1
GhanaFact found that in 2021, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo made reference to a UN globally accepted police-citizen ratio (1:500) during a police command conference in the Eastern Region. Also, in the 2008 State of the Nation Address by John Agyekum Kufuor, he quoted the 1:500 UN ratio.
At the UN level, while GhanaFact did not find any explicit document referring to any such ratio, an October 2009 article by Mary Kimani posted on the UN’s Africa Revival website stated in part: “The United Nations recommends one police officer for every 450 citizens. Kenya has one for every 1,150, Tanzania one for every 1,298, and Ghana, one for every 1,200.”
GhanaFact also found a similar referenced global benchmark in a 2022 UNDP brochure on the Programme to support Haitian Police amid rising gang violence in the country.
It read in part: “The PNH (Police Nationale d’Haiti) currently has a force of 15,498 police officers, including 1,771 women. This corresponds to a police-to-population ratio of 1.30 officers per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to 1.33 in October 2019, which is below the internationally recognised standard of 2.2 with further investments needed.”
In a letter from the Secretary-General to the UN Security Council (UNSC) in October 2022 on the security situation in Haiti, the 2.2 police officers to 1,000 citizens ratio was also quoted on page 2 of the UNSC document.
From the above, 2.2 of 1,000 comes up to 1:454.5, which can be approximated to 450 as referred to by Mr. Mahama. GhanaFact’s correspondence to the UN Police has not received an answer, at the time of filing this report.
Verdict:
The claim is rated partly true.
Genesis of UN ratio?
According to a report by Africa Check, there is no known UN ratio. Portions of the July 2019 report disputing a similar claim by South Africa’s Police Minister, read: “The UN did not respond to our queries about if they have any ratio. However, we managed to trace the often-cited ratio back to the United States policing of occupied Germany in 1945.
“Back then, one American policeman oversaw 450 German civilians. Its success at the time has tended to inform international policing, with the ratio being passed down from one UN document to another over the years.”
The report also noted that the ratio was previously quoted by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who also quoted the 1:450 ratio in 2017. In Nigeria, while seeking more personnel, a police chief in May 2017 said the UN recommended ratio was 1:400.
Fact-check 2
According to the Ministry Of Interior’s Programme Based Budget Estimates for 2022, the police-to-citizen ratio for 2020 stood at 1:808 and 1:732 as of 2021.
The document projected that the number was expected to improve with successive recruitments so that in 2024, the ratio should be 1:559 (page 2). On page 66, a more detailed year-on-year ratio and projection was also provided.
From the above, Ghana’s police-to-citizen ratio has been on a downward trajectory from an actual of 1:828 in 2020 to a target of 1:551 by 2025. Police recruitment has been routinely undertaken by successive governments, with the view to boost the efficiency of the service.
Verdict
Therefore, the claim that Ghana has a police-citizen ratio of 1: 1000 is false.
