Lack of law enforcement is our bane

For sometime now, our country has been saddled with all forms of indiscipline at almost every level of society. There is indiscipline on the roads, at the workplace and in public places; even our religious places of gathering have not been spared.

Indiscipline is so widespread that bending the rule is fast becoming the norm rather than the exception. It is not uncommon to find Ghanaians astonished by a firm act to enforce compliance at one stage or the other. Such people find nothing wrong in assisting others to, for instance, jump queues; they will fight you to the hilt if you dare raise a voice against it.

It is this indiscipline that we have visited on the environment, not only seen in the degradation of the land and forest, but also the pollution of water bodies.

The Daily Graphic is very concerned about these acts of indiscipline across the fabric of society which we attribute to the lack of law enforcement. To us, law enforcement is at the crux of the matter.

This lack of enforcement accounts for how the entire nation, including people entrusted with authority to enforce law and order, sat and looked on unconcerned or with some degree of complicity as men and women, young and old, rich and poor took the law into their own hands to desecrate the environment in the name of prospecting for minerals.

Indeed, the Media Coalition Against Galamsey has uncovered the shameful extent to which the environment has been decimated and water bodies polluted almost to their extinction.

For instance, President  Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s declaration to make Accra the cleanest city is a function of law enforcement. Without it, the intention will remain a wish that can never be actualised. It has to take laws at the national and sub-national levels to make any city such as Accra clean.

Almost on a yearly basis, the Auditor-General’s report treats this country to loads of gruelling accounts of unaccounted for funds in ministries, departments and agencies of government. Much of it turns out to be either misappropriated or embezzled, acts that come with heavy punishments and measures to recover the funds. But the reason such culprits are let off the hook is again attributable to the lack of law enforcement.

The business of law enforcement has been reduced to a class showpiece where people use their acquaintance and affinity to get out of the enforcement hook. Drivers, especially commercial ones, easily get away with traffic offences because it has almost become a norm for the enforcement officer to accept something in return in oder to let the offender go scot-free.

And don’t be surprised to learn that even at tollbooths these days, the tellers accept half tariffs without issuing out receipts to allow motorists access on the highways.

The Daily Graphic wants to call on all law enforcement units everywhere, particularly the security agencies, to step up to the plate and take enforcement to a different level. It has been long since we watched from afar with arms folded and hands clasped while law and order has been thrown to the dogs.

We, however, take consolation in the assurance by the Inspector General of Police, Mr David Asante-Apeatu, at his induction last Sunday that “we will discharge our duties in an impartial manner to make sure that no individual is seen to be above the law, so acts of lawlessness will not be countenanced”.