……..claims he is feared in Accra

A power drunk police officer who could at the moment be traced only with the name Officer Yeboah on November 10th 2007 visited the highest sense of police brutality on a young man during the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of Kumasi Academy College where his Excellency President John Agyekum Kufour was the Special Guest of Honour.

Using a kunfu-style, Officer Yeboah, who boldly claimed he is most feared in Accra, used his knee to kick the lower abdomen of Owusu Bimpah, an old student of Kumasi Academy College (KUMACA) who had been handcuffed for allegedly assaulting a police officer. He was manhandled by about four police officers before being driven out of the school’s campus.

“I would have cut off his head if I was the one he had slapped”, retorted emotionally charged Officer Yeboah when people began complaining about his inhuman approach to the whole issue.

It was alleged that when a police officer prevented Bimpah from taking a photograph of the president, Bimpah reacted violently slapping the officer in the face. However when this reporter enquired from the young man whether he had really assaulted the officer, he responded “how could I slap a police officer? I can’t do that. It is a lie. I haven’t done anything”.

Onlookers began to comprehend the source of officer Yeboah’s temerity when he was later seen on the podium with his Excellency the President holding an umbrella to shield the president from the scorching sun.

Police brutality, a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers and other law enforcement officers is admittedly becoming a common phenomenon in Ghana. Brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct which include false alerts, intimidation, political repression and police corruption. Police abuse remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the world. The excessive use of force by police officers, including unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and rough treatment, persists because overwhelming barriers to accountability make it possible for officers who commit human rights violations to escape due punishment and often to repeat their offenses.

Admittedly, officers who repeatedly commit human rights violations tend to be a small minority who taint entire police departments but are protected, routinely, by the silence of their fellow officers and by flawed systems of reporting, oversight, and accountability. This is why officer Yeboah believed he cannot be touched making claims that even international journalists cannot pin him down far more a local reporter.

For Officer Yeboah to openly challenge this reporter to send him anywhere and he cannot be bothered implies he is well connected to the powers that be hence no action could be pursued against him. These are the caliber of persons denting the image of government.