Slum Dwellers' Fury

Last Monday morning saw a spontaneous demonstration of victims of the demolition at the Sodom and Gomorrah (Old Fadama) slum.

The protest march became violent when the crowd started swelling, a development which could have brought Accra to its knees but for the mature skills exhibited by Commissioner of Police George Akufo Dampare.

It became clear that the brawn approach to policing does not always work and can sometimes attract a disturbing backlash. Under yesterday's circumstances, the demonstration needed only a spark through reckless and overzealous law enforcement for it to degenerate to an untoward abyss.

Indeed, the spark was almost there and that was what pushed the protesters to start throwing stones to vent their fury.

The diplomacy which Dr Dampare used – when he discouraged the use of firearms and instead resorted to the use of soothing words – won him the hearts of many of the demonstrators who had headed for the State House to, as they put it, 'see their brother, the President.'

Dismissing the pain of the demonstrators as if their pain did not matter was dangerous; and that was what some cops sought to do until the Commissioner of Police set in with his magic.

Many lessons abound in what happened on Monday, and these are worth considering by instructors in internal security operations or even crowd control tactics at law enforcement schools.

When words can calm down irate crowds, let them be used in place of firing weapons in mob control.

We cannot continue to apply the Hausa Police or Gold Coast Constabulary tactics in today's context when the diplomatic approach is available to be exploited. The Egyptian revolution was badly handled by the security agencies in that country, thereby providing the impetus for the violent reaction which set in.

Even though the rioters destroyed some state properties at various places on Monday, it was still in the public interest to calm and shepherd them away from the central part of the city and the public buildings they had targeted.

For people who had lost their sources of livelihood under the current economic challenges, they had adequately been pushed to the wall and feared no tear gas or even bullets.

We thank God that the triggers were not pulled and so there were neither broken bones nor fatalities.

It is only proper that the authorities find an alternative settlement for the internally displaced persons. After all, the previous government provided an alternative location for them near Amasaman when it planned relocating them.

Those who allowed themselves to be lured by the propaganda of the NDC at the time must be regretting now.

This is not the time for turning the grace of the government away from the displaced who have children and other dependants.

If the Amasaman accommodation is still available – we doubt if it is not – we ask that government rekindle what its predecessor sought to do, if it is not too late.

The important lesson to learn here too is that closing our eyes to realities in the name of political propaganda would expose us eventually, as it has the NDC.

The tendency to cancel projects of previous governments does not help, empirical evidence has shown.