­­­A strange affair: police extortion and fines

The declaration that the Ghana Police Service (GPS) had raised GH¢350,000 as it appeared in the Daily Graphic of Friday, August 23, 2019 is commendable, but it is quite insignificant compared to the amounts of money that end up in the pockets of police officers.

Officers of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) are often the worst culprits in unethical practices and corrupt behaviour.

The widespread public perception about corruption in the MTTD is likely to be correct. The fact that those perceptions might be correct is attested to in the media.

In the article “Don’t extort money from drivers” in the Daily Graphic of Tuesday, August 13, 2019, Chief Superintendent Victor Oduro Abrokwah, one of their own, said:
“Police officers who collect money from drivers for whatever offences put the integrity of the service into disrepute and that is what we, as police officers, must guard against.”

Witness

The issue about police extortion probably may be no news to most people because it has been a topic that has been up for discussion in almost every news medium in Ghana for decades.

In fact, the conduct of the police during their so-called motor checks on roads and major highways has always been frustrating, annoying and a nuisance to road users.

This is because the motive for the checks is just to collect money from drivers, without giving a hoot about of the doing this in public.

I wonder if such degrading practices are in the DNA of police officers or if they purposefully recruit people with a penchant for extortion to maintain that culture.

Usually, the officers are at their wits end when they find out during their checks that neither the driver nor the vehicle has nothing to be queried about.

When that happens, the MTTD officers attempt to find any means to befriend the driver, so that they can beg for unnecessary and ridiculous alms, using false and unqualified flattery and titles such as “Honourable, anything for your boys?”, “Nana, we have not taken breakfast oooo”, “Massa (Master) anything for our torch light batteries and other sundries?”

These are the examples of the ridiculous things they say as quoted from the article with the headline: “Re: don’t extort money from drivers,” in the Daily Graphic of Monday, August 26, 2019 on page 10.

I have quoted these because I have had similar experiences and frustrations for decades and it seems there is no end in sight in relation to the conduct of officials.

These officials “have so mastered the act of begging that those Sahelian children we encounter near the Accra Mall and other traffic intersections begging for alms don’t behave like that.”

Disgrace

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) should know that such acts by police officers on the highways are becoming a national disgrace! Indeed, a disgrace! In case the police might pretend to be ignorant of these.