Police To Receive GHc50k Insurance Cover? – The Same Reason Why I am Being Dismissed

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By Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III

Mr. David Asante Appeatu, IGP

Arguably the biggest legacy Mr. David Asante Appeatu, the current IGP and his administration will leave in the annals of history of this our police service is to insure every police officer Ghc 50,000.00 as reported by Ghana News Agency, Citifm online and other media outlets.

This will go a long way to immortalise him as one of the succeeding IGPs who indeed sought to transform the police service not by words of [ads1]mouth but backed his words with actions. I hope you still remember my open letter to the president when Major Maxwell Adama Mahama and Lance Corporal Robert Ackah died? I am being dismissed for that.

This report will go a long way to raise the morale of many police officers who are caught in a dilemma when it comes to fighting violence crimes like robbery. At times what comes into your head when you are called upon to go and fight robbery is “who will take care of my wife and children just in case I do not come back? Every police officer ponder over this rhetorical question anytime he is called upon to go and fight robbery. It’s really scary at times but thank God that the IGP is allaying our fears and worries now. It is the duty of IGPs and their administrations to solve problems of police officers but not to compound them and I must say that the current IGP is delivering on his mandate creditably.

At this juncture of our lives as police officers particularly junior ranks, we must all say ayekooooo to Mr. David Asante Appeatu and his administration to take this bold and giant steps to solve the problem of mass neglection and rejection the families of police officers who have died in line of duties face. This problem has been there for ages where a police officer who is also a human being full of flesh and blood is treated like a piece of rag when he dies in line of duties, thrown away just like that and the wife and children drove from barracks like none entities. Only God knows how miserable the wives and children of these officers become after their death.

According to the report, the insurance package will cover police officers who sustain various degrees of injuries in line of duties and those that die naturally. What else should Appeatu do again? He has done what Napoleon could not do and it a yeoman’s task well accomplished so he deserves a pat on his shoulder. He deserves our praises, salutations and our prayers.

Since the inception of the C.I 76 some of us have bemoaned openly how regulation 80 of the C.I 76 which talks about scholarships and awards scheme has been neglected to the detriments of we the junior ranks who are always at the forefronts fighting robberies and other violent crimes. Some of us have raise loud concerns about it considering how police officers are dying in line of duties particularly in the hands of armed robbers but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears all these while. I remember I asked Mr. John Kudalor, the immediate past IGP how he intends to reduce the killings of police officers by armed robbers and how to make effective regulation 80 of the C.I 76 which talks about scholarships and awards scheme after I had written an open letter to the then president and when he (John Kudalor) met the police officers at Ho. It is a worrying concern for we the junior ranks but thankfully Mr. David Asante Appeatu, our IGP says he is going to insure all of us.

On the 8th June 2017, I wrote an open letter to the president and bemoaned how Lance Corporal Robert Ackah who was then escorting a bus from Accra to somewhere North was caught up in a friendly fire and died but seems to have been neglected. Somewhere around that same time Major Maxwell Adam Mahama who was my senior at St. John’s School was killed through a mob action. Admittedly,  regrettably and painfully as the death of the the soldier was, the death of the police officer was equally painful but prominence was given to the soldier over the police officer even though they both died in line of duties.

In fact, the police officer was more on duty than the major who was reported to have go on jogging to keep his fit but met his untimely and unfortunate death. The circumstances in which he died, should not be prescribed as the worst form of punishment for any criminal or murderer but aside the circumstances in which both the soldier and the police officer died, the bottom line was that they both died in line of duties and for that matter what is good for Goose should be good for the Gander as principles of fairness demands. I shared my views on it through an open letter that triggered a lot of discussions in the public domain and within police circles and that is the purpose of open letters but not meant for channelling grievances.

Not quiet long, another police officer was gruesomely killed in Lapaz and for the first time in the history of Ghana and the police service, a sitting Vice President of the republic and the Interior Minister mourned with the bereaved families of the slain police officer. The whole police management board (pomab) lead by the IGP also went and mourned with the bereaved family and when it was time to bury the police officer, his burial was something equivalent to state burial. What else do serving police officers need apart from this?

Though the 8th June open letter was not my first one, I suffered acts of vindictiveness and victimisation for putting my thoughts together and expressed my views accordingly per the dictates of the constitution of the Republic of Ghana which grants me a fundamental right as a Ghanaian first before a police officer. I was quickly transferred from the police headquarters to Abokobi where I have to go from one bank to the other to contract “killer loans” to look for my own accommodation even though I am entitled to one. I have since used my almost 9 years savings as young police officer to rent a place to lay my head and work for Ghana Police Service. I must say I have become poorer than when I joined the police service.

Just yesterday, I was given a formal notice to appear before adjudicating officer for SERVICE ENQUIRIES  as to why I wrote an open letter to the president even though that was not the first time I wrote an open letter. During the time of John Dramani Mahama as the president, I wrote several open letters and some were even directed to the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice of the time. That time there was no police administration and disciplinary authorities in the police service so nobody minded me until I wrote one in H.E Nana Akuffo Addo’s time. Suddenly, a rope was put on my neck like Alidu’s goat and being tightened to suffocate me whilst I am being dragged to the slaughterhouse as to why I should write an open letter to the president.

I must say that I do not smell any political persecution, intimidation, vindictiveness and victimisation in this service enquiries and the charges levelled against me for writing an open letter to the president but rather the usual machevelian and guerrilla tactics played by certain individuals in the police service who seek to suppress and oppress the welfare of members of the police service. The charges levelled against smacks of political persecution and it’s a big worry that in a democratic Ghana we still have a police service that is still an agent of destroying fine talents thereby behaving like a brooding hen which consumes its own eggs.

If today, Mr. David Asante Appeatu in his own wisdom has seen the need to insure every single police officer GHc50,000.00 and to cater for the children of deceased police officers up to tertiary level then I should be proud of myself no matter the trials and tribulations I am going through for writing such an open letter though I don’t take the credit for the IGP’s initiative. I only pat him on his shoulder and salute him as my Inspector General for giving a listening ears to our cries and paid attention to our plight as a father. As for those who are scheming to have me dismissed from the police service, I only advice them to watch their hands as they chew that of a Chimpanzee. In fact there is no difference between the hand of a Chimpanzee and that of human being and if you doubt it, take a critical look at it and you will realise that they are all five fingers just that the Chimpanzee’s own is a little bit hairy than that of a human.

Initially, I made up my mind not to take part of such premeditated, prejudicial, predetermined and preconceived service enquiry borne out of vindictiveness and victimisation meant to destroy my career as a police officer  but per what Mr. David Asante Appeatu has done, I will plead guilty to all the charges levelled against me just to fast track my dismissal from the police service to the satisfaction of those who are hiding behind the police administration and the government to scheme against me because they believe I stood in their ways and prevented them from satisfying their parochial interests. I will leave their service for them even though the charges levelled against me are frivolous and I can defend myself without the services of a counsel. I leave them to their own conscience and on the blood of fallen police officers who died painfully in line of duties and their souls keep wailing from the land of the dead yet nothing was done for them and their families.

Because I anticipated unsound reasoning into my open letter by certain individuals in the police service and also expected intimidation, vindictiveness and victimisation, I made my point clear that I have already secured some kiosk at Kantamanto “second hand” clothes section where I intend to take up a new trade. I think it’s time to go now but this very generation of police officers and those yet to come will forever remember Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III and how I put my issue across in spite of threats and intimidations. That makes me outstanding in my generation as a police officer with such a little rank like a Lance Corporal.

To all police officers who will be benefiting from this insurance package, give all thanks to Mr. David Asante Appeatu and those right thinking police officers who sincerely and honestly admit that our police service needs a change. Just in case you pass by at Kantamanto don’t forget to come for some fine “tops and downs selections”. My name has always been Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III, the one who torture the conscience of the evils in the police service and brings relieving comfort to every right thinking police officer whether senior or a junior rank.

Like I said, don’t forget to say thank you to Mr. David Asante Appeatu. As for the “evils” in the police, I leave them in the hands of Kennedy Agyapong. He is their karma.

Such a misocaineaic institution we have found ourselves in the name of Ghana Police Service. Open letters are just too good for the police service and I will write more so let no one be deceived that threats of service enquiries will gag me. “Asase aban, me nte gyae”

Ahanta Apemenyimheneba Kwofie III
dkwofie17@gmail.com

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