Security experts condemn the use of brutal force in maintaining law and order

Accra, Jan. 6, GNA - Security experts in Ghana, have condemned the use of brutal force and intimidation, by some personnel of the Ghana Police Service as a means to maintain peace, law and order.

The experts said the act undermined the principles of good governance and cautioned that such unprofessional wield of force could degenerate into serious cases of human rights violations.

The security experts were presenting papers at a symposium organised by the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education at the University of Ghana (UG), Legon on Tuesday in Accra.

The symposium, which was on the theme: "Peace, Security and Human Rights," was part of the series of programmes organised by the institute for the 61st New Year School.

The theme for this year's annual school is: "Sustaining Democratic Governance In Ghana: Issues Before the Nation."

For more than 60 years, the school has provided the platform for a cross-section of people to discuss issues of both national and international concern.

Dr Raymond Atugubah, a law lecturer at the UG, said there was the need for Ghana to change its present security strategies in order to promote peace, security and human rights.

He expressed dissatisfaction about some methods employed by the police in particular to maintain law and order, describing the tactics as crude and unprofessional.

Dr Atugubah said a close examination of most activities of the service revealed serious cases of misuse of state's resources under the cloak of maintaining security.

"You can verify this by visiting any of the traffic light post located throughout the metropolis. You can see about four armed policemen directing traffic at one location," adding that the method was a waste of state resources.

Dr Atugubah said a new breed of police officers that act professionally could be produced if the colloquial syllabuses at their training institutions were replaced with modern and proactive contents that upheld peace, security and human rights.

He said the act of maintaining security in a country went beyond crime detection and called for stringent methods to clamp down on activities that festered revenue leakages.

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, Inspector General of Police (IGP), admitted that there were bad police personnel who are dragging the reputation of the service in the mud.

He gave the assurance that his outfit would not shield any miscreant from a deserved punishment or sanction.

Mr Quaye said use of brutal force, abuse of human rights and intimidation were not ingredients of democratic governance and means of promoting peace and security in the country.

He noted that the citizenry are properly governed when the state together with other stakeholders provide the needed social amenities.

The Most Rev. Prof. E. Asante, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Conference said attaining security required giving people equal access to safety, life, education, food, health and other amenities.

He said there was mutual relationship between peace, security, human rights and development.

Rev. Asante called for collective efforts in ensuring that the relative peace and security that the citizenry enjoy in the country is not jeopardised.

GNA