Law Enforcement Cracks

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) must do more to win the confidence of Ghanaians, especially with Elections 2016 nearly here.

Until he succeeds in this direction, which we strongly doubt he can, most of his compatriots, including law enforcement officers under him do not think he has the moral strength to discharge his duties professionally and without bias.

It sounds prankish therefore when he issues warnings about not going to tolerate biased cops during the elections.

Such warnings are nothing but headline-seeking ploys lacking sincerity in their entirety.

What happened to the cop from Bole who was displaying his NDC allegiance, a story which appeared in DAILY GUIDE?

What action did the IGP take when a Superintendent aided the movement of registration equipment to a Togolese village, details of which were put out in the media, including telltale pictures?

He did nothing because such inaction inures to the interest of the NDC. There are many others.

Although brusque and lacking diplomacy, we think that in matters as grave as the enforcement of the law, in the true sense of the word, not being so, is not an option of a responsible media establishment.

We would be failing in our responsibility, as the IGP is doing, if we do not highlight the law enforcement challenge scaring at us, as a nation.

The issue is not about cops who are not ready to discharge their duties as professionally as they can: there are as many good cops as are politically-biased ones who are ready to do the bidding of the ruling party for favours of contracts or extension of service.

The nature of law enforcement in Ghana is such that the police are always on the side of the government; a worrying anomaly which is robbing us of internationally-acclaimed best practices.

Visiting police formations across the country and grabbing arranged headlines won't reverse the negative impression we have about the Police under the current leadership.

There is only one means of winning the lost confidence of the people: deal decisively with mischief-makers regardless of whose ox is gored.

He should be able to stand up to politicians who use their positions to scuttle the cases brought against trouble-makers.

A few incidents have been noted in the past few weeks and true to the words of observers, nothing has come out of them because their originators are activists of the ruling party.

Let the IGP know that there are many retired top cops and other ranks who understand the shenanigans of politicized policing.

They can smell it when it is present as it is today.

The IGP should also know that Ghanaians in general are very awake and cannot be taken for granted: such remarks from the Chief Constable are too cheap to be able to make any impact.

The confidence level of Ghanaians in the Police to ensure the security of the forthcoming elections is very low.