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29.08.2012 Editorial

When A Cop Adjudicates….

By Daily Guide
Ghana Police ServiceGhana Police Service
29.08.2012 LISTEN

If the assault on a Tamale banku seller, Mma Kande, was appalling, then the verbal verdict by the Tamale Metropolitan Police Commander DSP Caesar Abanga against her in favour of Deputy Minister Boya Gariba is amazing and reprehensible.

Ghanaians, after suffering the sight of the puffed face and black eye of Mma Kande on the front page of this newspaper, were saddened by the Police Commander's bias in the unfolding story.

When he fielded questions about the assault, DSP Caesar, who admitted that he was busy with the President's visit at the time of the unfolding story and was therefore not on top of it, was ironically still able to accuse Mma Kande of being the source of the trouble.

His additional detail of Mma Kande pretending to be unable to talk when the police sought information from her, was an additional proof of his prejudice. So what is the use of the Chief Inspector's investigation into the case as DSP Caesar Abanga pointed out earlier, when he has concluded the case in this fashion?

We are constrained to state that law enforcement officers who make preemptive disclosures when investigations are ongoing, just to please political office holders to the disadvantage of assault victims, are doing a great disservice to the nation's justice system and should be sanctioned.

This is a typical example of actions by some law enforcement agents which tend to make their work difficult in the long run, as they reduce their esteem in the eyes of the people they are supposed to serve.

The law should be allowed to take its course no matter whose ox is gored. That is a sure way of growing institutions in the country and enhancing democracy.

Even after the graphic presentation of the swollen face of the victim of the assault, some people sought to rubbish the reality, describing it as an untruth. The political inclination of this group of persons is not in doubt.

If for such persons Mma Kande was not the victim of an act of assault, we wonder what could have caused her face to be swollen and bruised.

Are those persons, for the fear of political repercussions of the assault case, seeking to pour cold water over the incident by disputing the fact that the woman suffered brutality at the hand of someone?

Had this messy situation happened elsewhere where the law is supreme and where institutions work as prescribed by the Constitution, heads would have started rolling by now.

For those who have started calling for the heads of some persons mentioned in the gruesome assault case, let them know that in Ghana, actions shrouded in partisan politics do not follow such a course.

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