THE GHANA KILLING SERVICE
In the last couple of weeks, the Ghana Police Service has been beating its chest in pride for what it considers as acts of heroism. They have been involved in a number of shoot-outs with suspected armed-robbers and have succeeded in killing more than a dozen at various locations in the country.
Persistently, I’ve heard the leadership of the Ghana Police Service proudly ascribe to themselves the pride of place for that villainy act of killing people they tagged as armed-robbers. Only this evening, I heard, the police officers who killed 8 supposed armed-robbers on the Kumasi-Bekwai highway, have been rewarded. They have been given service honours. Really? So now, in Ghana, people receive medals for killing others? Nauseating. I feel there is something wrong with us. Either some of the screws that were supposed to hold the heads of the leadership of the Ghana Police Service, firmly on their necks; are missing, or that somebody is simply fed up and therefore decided to throw caution and morality to the dogs.
The Ghana Police, all of a sudden, have developed a certain bravado and have metamorphosed into murderers instead of the coins-collecting service men we have traditionally known them to be. They tell the whole world that the said armed-robbers opened fire on them and they had no choice but to return fire for fire. In one instance when they killed 8 suspected armed-robbers, only one police officer was slightly hurt in that tango. Doesn’t that surprise you? If indeed, the robbers opened fire on the police first, as they would have us all swallow without question, as if our heads were some tabula rasa; how come none of them was killed in the shoot-out? Don’t tell me they were well trained and well equipped. Well-trained, maybe. Well-equipped; no. If I know the Ghana Police very well, they won’t even have bullet-proof gears. I just don’t believe the police when they said the robbers opened fire on them first. My instinct tells me, there was something fishy. Even if they did, (that is, if the robbers did open fire on them first), by their professional training, the police should know better than to shoot and kill the robbers, that is even if we accept that they were robbers; to begin with.
At any rate, now that they are dead and can’t defend themselves, how do we ascertain that they were indeed robbers? The Ghana Police has a cruel history of killing innocent citizens under the guise of high-way patrols. The Dansoman killing incident rings a bell, doesn’t it? Innocent Ghanaian citizens going about their legitimate business were killed in cold blood; and like in the present circumstance, we were told by the police that they opened fire first. It turned out to be one huge lie. The police service later apologized or so, I heard, to the family of the deceased and were supposed to pay some compensation to the families of the people they killed for free. I wonder if they did pay that compensation. I have never trusted any of their promises because they don’t live up to them. Even if they did pay (if only to shame me for once), what different would that have made? Those lives are lost forever. No amount of compensation can actually compensate for the loss the families incurred.
Here is the Ghana Police again shooting and killing people all over the place, touting their so-called bravery on rooftops and in alleyways and want us to clap for them and give them standing ovation; as if we’ve not been here before. Let’s hope they are indeed killing armed-robbers and not some innocent helpless citizens, as usual. Even if the people they killed were real arm-wielding and gun-fire-opening armed-robbers, should they be shot and killed? Last time I checked, two wrongs did not make a right. Giving people medals for killing others, would only encourage some trigger-happy lunatics to gun down some more Ghanaians.
Well, let’s see what happens next. I’m watching disappointedly from the cold.
Worla 29-07-09.
