(Shall we pay Officers well, then clamp down on bribery and corruption?)

There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that the police are among the most corrupt in Ghana. Many erect barriers on roads simply to collect bribes! However, we also know that the police are among the lowest paid in Ghana, Yet they are a necessary part of today’s modern society. So what do we do?

Most people could use more money on their job, but as Ministers and MPs are dipping their hands in public coffers to take C80,000 cedis for their cars and houses, it is extremely sad to note that most police officers who are protecting the society live on less than $1.50 per day! Ghana police are housed in shanty-town housing, and are given very little modern communication equipment, vehicles and motorcycles. At the same time the attitude of most of them is nothing to be proud of.

One needs to understand human psychology to see the cause and effect of this scenario and hopefully we can all work in non-partisan ways to make changes. Even in the most affluent areas of the capital city, the Police service, like most of the civil service establishments, has been neglected when it comes to salary and conditions of service. The salary per month for a Sergeant in the Ghana Police Service is estimated to be between Ghc 120 and Ghc150. There are those who earn less than Ghc 100 a month in the Civil service establishment. How do we expect them to perform without blemish!?

Fellow Ghanaians, bribery and corruption can be classified into two categories,

1. Political Corruption, the basis of which stems up from greed since the politicians are well compensated.

2. Civil Service Corruption, the basis of which stems from mainly poor salary structures and human weaknesses.

• When the Politicians take bribes they are not punished; they can at best resign. • When the politicians cause financial loss to the state, they are pardoned by the President even when a competent court finds them guilty. • When the politicians embezzle state funds, they are never taken to court since they all do it, so it is alright? In the mean time, elected officials get almost everything free from the state. How does anybody with a fair mind expect a Police officer, or any civil servant, with a wife and children, be able to live within Ghc 120 a month without stealing, or in the case of the Policeman, extorting money from offending drivers? That is why people claim Ghanaians are magicians.

I commend the Inspector General of Police for his resolve, but he must also know that corruption is a National cancer and require a holistic approach to cure, than the surface. In an effort to attempt solving the bribery and corruption cancer from Ghana, we should not make the four police officers and the whole police service scapegoats.

When our Government found it necessary to give 30 thousand dollars to every member of Parliament to rent a home of his/her choice and 50 thousand dollars to every Member of Parliament to buy a car, they couldn’t think of raising the salaries of those who secure our safety every moment of the day! Let us give them a living wage, some decent housing, and place 24 hour surveillance on them, and if they continue the corruption, nobody will have sympathy for them.

On 28th January, Four officials of the Accra Central Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service were said to have been arrested on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) for allegedly extorting money from motorists around the Achimota Overhead Bridge. An amount of GH¢196 was said to have been retrieved from them when they were searched on the spot by the arresting team from the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards (PIPS) bureau (Daily Graphic). The affected police officers are: Inspector Joseph Karikari, Sergeant Anthony Nyarko, Lance Corporal George Rockson, and Corporal Daniel Yemoh.

I do not and nobody can approve of their actions. However, if we want to be political, then we should make it plain that there will be a time the people will rise up against the social injustices and hold our politicians accountable for the level of poverty in Ghana. They are responsible for the decay in social morals and ethics from the top to bottom of the ladder!

Politicians have succeeded in creating artificial poverty on the people whiles most are making deals using their official positions. Is it not sad that our blessed oil fields have been sold for peanuts, when the big men have stashed millions of dollars in foreign account? How long will our leaders go on like this unpunished?

The obvious poverty has been created so the crooked politicians can always buy the votes of the ordinary people! It is time for social justice! I think it is about time the government pays the police and all workers well, as a Human Rights issue. What is good for them is good for the ordinary working Ghanaian.

In my view, government should not hire people simply to pay them below living wages, and then license them and give then guns and power to collect bribes. No! This practice is destroying the moral fiber of our Country and must end!