Nothing happens without cause

Our security services are cherished institutions and sometimes when you make adverse comments about their activities, they feel offended and try to find avenues to harass you.

I have experienced it with the Armed Forces, the Police and even the Bureau of National Investigations.

As far as the Police are concerned, in the first instance, there was an article I wrote resonating complaints from truck drivers on the Eastern Corridor road, particularly those who conveyed yam, to the effect that at each of the barriers on the road, one had to drop several tubers of yam.

Whilst the Police did not deny the complaints, they asked me to produce evidence.

With another case, I repeatedly wrote about the reckless parking of heavy-duty trucks and the consequent congestion on the Accra side of the Nkawkaw bypass.

The Eastern Regional Police Commander at the time, DCOP A. Awuni, inspected the spot and directed that barriers be erected there to stop the lawless activities of the drivers.

A few days after that, I was stopped at Asona, on the Kumasi side of the bypass, by police personnel on road duty. When the police personnel learnt that my name was Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, they detained me for a while and asked why I had been blaming them over the matter.

My response was that if any accident occurred there, nobody would wake me up or disturb me at any time of the day, but they are the ones who would have to sacrifice to manage any mishap.

Therefore, my position was that they should stop the drivers before an accident occurred, to take their time.

Thereafter, they let me go.

The only time that the police took my column seriously was when COP Kofi Boakye served as the Ashanti Regional Commander.

I wrote in my column asking whether there was any Motor Traffic and Transport Department in the Ashanti Region, in particular, Kumasi. 

I opined that a few of them who went about did so not to serve the public, but to line their pockets.  

I learnt that he made photocopies of the article and distributed them to MTTD stations in the region for his colleagues to know some of the comments the public were making about them.

When IGP Dampare was retired, police personnel demonstrated openly in uncontrolled joy, and many within the public wondered the reason for the unprecedented jubilation. His administration was considered by a large number of prominent citizens and civil society organisations as not only professional, but one that restored discipline and dignity within the Ghana Police Service, including the physical environment of the Police Headquarters.

Moreover, the removal of police barriers and reduction of police personnel on most of our major highways and city roads, except where they were needed for security and public safety, were hailed and commended by the public, especially drivers.

But as our elders maintain, "biribi nsi kwa", to wit, nothing happens without cause.

In recent times, many Ghanaians say that they have found the reason why the police personnel jubilated and that it was because they were prevented from taking bribes, especially on highways and city roads. 

I have personally observed the diffused nature of police presence on both inter-city and intra-city roads.

Any casual observer will notice how police personnel, in the name of road checks, collect money from drivers and virtually wrench money from private cars, sometimes openly saying, "your children are on the road"; “is there anything for water"; "we are here to protect you"; and similar modes of begging.

I know that just as it happened with the complaints from the Eastern Corridor drivers or the Nkawkaw bypass congestion, those police personnel who may identify me would try to make things tough, but in this particular instance, I cannot, as Achebe maintains, agree with my wife because I do not want to miss meat, but eat lumps of cocoyam. 

Image

The image of the Ghana Police Service and, in particular, the leadership direction over corruption and corruptible practices are at stake, and cannot be sacrificed because of the inordinate greed and unprofessional conduct of a few, whose actions are always in the open before the public because they take place in open places, even if the public cannot secure evidence of how much is parted away each time a driver is stopped at a police barrier.

I have, over the years, taught a large number of police personnel at the Christian Service University and have jokingly taunted them over what happens on the road, asking them sometimes whether the art of begging is part of the curriculum at the police training schools.

I can, with certainty, confirm that there are many spots in Kumasi, where there were daily dawn operations of road checks by the police personnel, which stopped completely under IGP Dampare, but have now become diffused and regular.

Definitely, we cannot completely eliminate the police from the roads and cities, but their presence must be to protect and support the general public and motorists. 

If ever I come under attack for expressing these views from any police officer, or I am asked to offer something because my "boys are there to protect me", I will not hesitate to report to the IGP for redress.