The IGP’s text message to calm down the nerves of police officers as a result of the unruly military attacks on innocent police officers and also to direct the various Regional, Divisional and District Commanders whose jurisdictions the attacks have occurred to take action is a good one.
[ads1]It soothes and relieves angered and pained police officers who are groaning over these attacks over the years and the complete silence of the police administration on this issue.
I had expected a full press release from the office of the IGP but I must say that the text message was timely enough to calm my nerves. The message actually repaired a lot of emotional damages caused by these constant attacks on police officers by the soldiers who should rather complement the efforts of the police. It is a step in the right direction and I applaud the IGP and his administration for a swift emotional response. They should keep it up and show more signs of concern going into the future as far as these attacks are concerned.
My actual disappointment is Regional Commanders who have direct responsibilities to ensure that these miscreants in the military are prosecuted per their mandates. Their continuous supervision of soldiers attacking police is a clear negligence of duty and responsibilities and such Regional Commanders must be made to face discipline actions just like a police Constable who did not go to guard duties and thereby charged, tried and punished accordingly. They make the police administration and the IGP appear very irresponsible because there is no occasion that such attacks happened at the police headquarters other than in the regions under the supervision of Regional Commanders who have been given the powers to act in the IGP’s stead.
The right forum to settle criminal cases is the courts and not REGSEC that they have always been running to. If we feel that criminal attacks on the lives of the police officer can be settled at REGSEC, we should then begin to settle robbery, murder and other violent crimes too at REGSEC. Settling criminal attacks on police officers by soldiers at REGSEC particularly when the attacks have been repetitive in nature is a clear case of negligence on our police capos and a compromise on the clear and unambiguous constitutional mandate of the police. We keep settling these cases at the REGSEC levels and allow those unscrupulous soldiers to fool around because police officers who are the end-points of these attacks are not provoked and angered enough.
To me this is the first IGP within my few years in the police and in recent times who has attempted to leverage on technology to work on the emotions of his men but some of us would still want to see drastic actions taken against the soldiers going into the future if these attacks continue to happen lest the police are provoked and angered beyond the control of the IGP and his administration because we are nearing there anytime these attacks happen.
We are in a country that is psyched up with military superiority so it makes some criminal elements in the military think they can attack innocent police officers and go scot-free. They have actually been attacking police and been going scot-free I must say. To be honest with you, these guys feel that the military immunes them from criminal arrest, detention, and prosecution. Is that the case? It may sound rhetoric but that is the reality anyway. The whole thing looks like the soldiers are above the laws of Ghana and can always evade criminal justice no matter how they assault and brutalize police officers but the fact is that the police are not angered and provoked enough. I think the attacks are too petty so the police do not feel the pinch of them and so I urge the soldiers on.
Yes! The police have still not been provoked or angered to forceful limits so some of these unruly soldiers think that they can always get away with it if they continue to attack innocent police officers so they are freaking themselves to foolery. In fact, they should increase the attacks since that is the only thing that will wake the police from their slumber and activate their senses of defence any time a soldier just greets a police officer. It will reach a point where mere greetings between soldiers and police officers will spark the attack and that is what I want to see.
In the coming days, I expect brutal military attacks on the police to be on the rise. I would loved to see more police officers maimed, incapacitated and even killed as a result of the military attacks on the police under the watch of the president, the speaker of parliament and his parliamentarians, the chief justice, the Catholic bishop conference, the ChristCouncilncil, national peace council, the traditional rulers, the civil groups and all those who cry out aloud in defence of human rights. They should continue to be silent and watch as the soldiers turn the police into punching bags.
In fact, I would love to see more police officers including myself attacked under the watch of the IGP, the CDS, the defence and interior ministers, the national security minister and all the national security operatives whose duty is to ensure that acts and doings of certain individuals and groups do not constitute a security breach and undermine the peace of this country. They should continue with the fallacy that the police cannot do anything because they are zombies and tickle themselves to laughter but the truth is that these attacks will stop naturally if our leaders fail to act.
In fact, the attacks should be rampant to an extent that the ordinary police officer should feel that he or she is all by himself or herself and the earlier he or she defends himself or herself against the attacks of these ruthless soldiers, the higher his or her chances of survival. When it gets to that limit, trust me that the military attacks on the police will stop. It will stop at once because the consequences will be too much for this country to bear. That is when those who have been trusted with the mandate to protect the police officer will see how their negligence and irresponsibilities have caused this nation.
For now, the soldiers have done nothing much to irritate, provoke and anger the police to bare fangs on them to see canine and incisors of the police and how it tears fleshes into pieces like that of a roaring lion which is seeking a flesh to devour. Nations that have seen the anger of the police have an informed opinion about the police and respect the police in all circumstances. Our nation has not seen anything yet but we will surely get there looking at how the police are continually disrespected by the soldiers.
Elsewhere in some jurisdictions, who born dog for a soldier to attack the police? An attack on the police is a felonious offense that will cause the whole police apparatus to come after you but what do we see here in Ghana? Elsewhere the soldier runs to his barracks upon seeing a police officer but here in Ghana, our leaders are so obsessed with the military to an extent that they even want to give the constitutional mandate of the police to the military because they believe the military can execute it better.
Ghana is sick with military obsession and the earlier we cure it, the better for all of us. The message is very simple and clear. Prosecute criminal soldiers to serve as a deterrent for others. When a soldier loses his job and goes to jail for attacking a police officer, other criminal bandits in the military will learn and conform to the laws of Ghana.
I dare the soldiers to do more. Just in case that it’s me that they want, I am at Abokobi Police Station. They can come there.
It’s a happy sabbath!
Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III dkwofie17@gmail.com
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