Selective Policing

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A contagion has afflicted the Ghana Police Service, worsening an already unenviable image challenge for the internal security organisation.

Even as the infection spreads to the remaining unaffected tissues of the organization, President Mills appears to be oblivious of the dangerous challenge or perhaps living in denial to suit his transient political interest.

For how long can he continue to cocoon himself from the realities of the Ghanaian situation?

In the Brong Ahafo Region, Robert Ayalingo, DCOP, is busy doing the bidding of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the detriment of the image of the service.

It is mind-boggling how a top officer with decades of service behind him can stoop so low as to order the detention of politicians from the other side of the political divide, denying them the privilege of a bail because it serves the interest of the president and his henchmen.

A service which is riddled with integrity blemishes cannot be said to be managed by those who believe in the motto underpinning it.

Coming to Mr. Robert Ayalingo, the man on the verge of going home after a long and blemished career, he is doing what many in his grade are doing at the Police headquarters. His colleagues at the Police Headquarters seek to convince the politicians at the helm that their applications for contract engagement be considered. They dangle their partisan policing record as their strong points alongside their readiness to uphold the interest of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regardless of how much such obsession is detrimental to the national interest.

As if that is not enough, such officers want to breach the standard in the Ghana Police Service which demands that for such officers who would be obliged an extension of service, they should be demoted by one grade and denied also the donning of the police uniform.

We are aware that this matter is receiving the attention of the Castle because such officers claim to be ready to support the forthcoming elections. Just what they want to offer the country during the elections is beyond our ken.

It is interesting to note that if the intention is diabolical, which it is, President Mills will live to regret the blunder.

Last week, some top New Patriotic Party (NPP) personalities in the Brong Ahafo Region were arrested and detained beyond the standard 48 hours in a manner which beats imagination.

The Regional Police Commander, Robert Ayalingo, because of his desire to satisfy the demands of the ruling NDC, put off his phone.

His subordinates, who could not have done anything about a bail for those being held, looked on as the laws of the land were being breached.

That is the stage we have reached under a President Atta Mills administration.

Mr. Ayalingo would surely fail as he did in his attempts to massage the facts to suit President Mills's Dagbon agenda.

The interest of our beloved Ghana is beyond our individual and party interests. The transience of political power, especially in a country where the numerical difference between the two dominant parties is almost a thin line, demands we tread cautiously in managing political matters.