Time to assuage the pains

Last Monday, the country received with shock the news that DNA tests conducted on the skeletal remains of four persons retrieved from two places in Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region last August have confirmed that the remains were those of the four girls who went missing in different places in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis in 2018.

The news was very difficult to believe, especially for the families of the girls, who had hoped that their missing relatives were still alive somewhere.

The Daily Graphic can imagine the anguish of the families at this moment and extends its condolences to them in these difficult and trying moments.

We recall events leading to the breaking of the news last Monday and opine that certain pronouncements, actions and inaction had not helped matters.

As should be expected, therefore, the families of the girls harbour suspicion and mistrust for the police.
It is not surprising, then, that there are calls from the families and other citizens for the resignation of the Inspector General of Police and the

Head of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service.
Under the current circumstances, we fully understand the sorrow of the families but we call on them to remain calm.

But we note the demand made by three of the families for independent DNA tests to be conducted on the skeletal remains and reason that if that is what will assuage them, then we must, as a country, immediately start the processes to ensure that the tests are done to bury this matter once and for all.

Certainly, the Daily Graphic thinks the happenings and the circumstances surrounding them must give all of us food for thought. We must see the regrettable incident as a lesson learnt in a hard way and be more proactive in the way we approach issues as citizens, policy makers and law enforcement agencies.

As we share in the pain and pray for the families, we implore everybody to be mindful of his or her utterances. Whatever we say openly or behind the scenes must contribute to the healing process for the victims’ friends, families, communities and the entire country.

In saying this, however, we are mindful of the sentiments expressed by the citizenry.

The perception among a section of the populace that the police may not be on top of their job will sound painful and demoralising, but we encourage the police not to be daunted but use this moment to do self-assessment and deep introspection to be able to tighten the loose ends as far as their performance is concerned.

In this vein, we charge the police, as an institution, to embark on a comprehensive image-building exercise that will win back the confidence of that section of the populace that is underrating their capacity to deal with criminal activities in the country.

Our advice to the police is also that they must have a comprehensive communication policy that will spell out what to put out for the public, at what time and under what circumstance.

In all, we believe the police have also learnt a lot of lessons from these unfortunate incidents which they are going to use to improve upon their work.

The government must also provide the security agencies with the needed equipment to fight crime, so that we can hold them to account.

In all this, the Daily Graphic implores the citizenry to be security conscious by being alert and ready to report suspicious characters in our midst to the security agencies, while the security agencies must be seen to act on such reports with dispatch.

The fight against crime is a shared responsibility between the public and the security agencies. Therefore, we must all put our shoulders to the wheel to ensure a peaceful and secure society for all.