Suspension of motor checks is to facilitate traffic management – Police

The Ghana Police Service has justified a recent decision to halt motor checks across the country, despite criticisms.

The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Cephas Arthur, told Joy News the unrelenting traffic jam on Ghana’s roads needs attention, hence the directive to shift focus away from other operations of the police.

Per the order, police will not check documentation, road worthiness, and allied requirements of motorists.

“All attention is going to be concentrated on managing traffic which has become a source of concern in our communities just to make sure that we create a more congenial atmosphere for travelers and commuters in our cities and our towns,” he said Tuesday.

A wireless message from the top hierarchy of the police in Accra Tuesday said “all motor checks in the country [are to be] suspended with immediate effect.”

It said personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service are to be "used only for traffic management duties.

The directive has been criticised as unsound.
Founding President of the think tank, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe, says the order against checks for motor traffic offences is an absurd form of policing.

Mr Cudjoe thinks IGP John Kudalor’s directed smacks of lawlessness.

Supt Cephas Arthur, however, says there is a need to focus on the clampdown on arms proliferations and drugs, insisting the order is a routine strategy to improve operational efficiency.

“When the need arises that we restore that aspect of police operations we shall restore it,” said.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN