Features
Criminals in uniform
In Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth, Duncan, the King of Scotland, declares: “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” He makes this remark after he is told that the Thane of Cawdor has been executed for treason.
In the play, the Thane of Cawdor, a Scottish titled man, valiant for that matter, betrays his country, and the king’s trust by fighting for the Norwegians who are at war against Scotland. His compatriots capture him, and King Duncan orders his execution. It is after the order is carried out and reported to Duncan that he makes that statement.
In simple terms, the expression means one cannot read someone else’s mind by merely looking at their face. In other words, never judge a book by its cover.
The king realises that there is no way to predict betrayal. He does not see it coming as his next sentence shows: “He was a gentleman on whom I built absolute trust.”
Such is the dilemma we face as a nation. The nefarious activities of some men in uniform, have put Ghanaians on edge. These are people to whom we have entrusted our safety and security, but they have betrayed our trust and are in cahoots with criminals of all sorts to threaten us, putting both our property and very lives in danger.
Policemen and soldiers have in recent times, been arrested in very compromising situations unbecoming of their profession. They have joined the underworld. Like the Thane of Cawdor, they are sent to wage war against criminals, but they go and join them to do us harm.
It occurs all over the world with varying degrees. There have been reported cases of policemen in the UK abducting, raping, and murdering women. In the US, a policeman recently killed his own wife, a fellow police officer, following what is believed to be a domestic violence incident.
However, criminals in uniform abound more in Africa than in other parts of the world. And some of the reports are frighteningly shocking. For example, in the 1980s, in Nigeria, the name of a very prominent senior police officer, DSP George Iyamu, popped up as the main facilitator of the most deadly and dreaded criminal gang in the country, led by Lawrence Anini, a very young notorious armed robber in his late 20s.
Together with his gang, Anini terrorised most parts of Nigeria, especially, Benin City in the old Bendel State which has now been split into Edo State and Delta State.
The clan began as carjackers before including robbing buses on highways. In no time, bank robberies became their preferred option with the cruel massacre of victims.
They committed gruesome murders including killing a lot of policemen who stood in their way. Within just about four months, the group had killed close to a dozen policemen, including two who attempted to stop Anini at a barrier, not to mention civilians.
The fearsome robber held sway over all he surveyed and was a law unto himself. In fact, he called himself Anini the law and was so elusive and dreaded even though he was living right under the nose of the police.
It is said that even if he approached a police barrier, all he had to say was: “I am Anini the law.” And come and see speed! Instead of attempting to arrest him, they would just flee for cover, and allow him free passage.
Anini even had the audacity to draft a proposal and gave it to the military Head of State at the time, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, about collaborating with his group of felons and treating them with respect to bring peace to the country, especially, Benin City.
The Newswatch magazine, in its October 27, 1986 publication, listed the six conditions Anini gave for peace to return to Benin city in an unedited form as follows:
“No more prosecution of innocent armed robbers; a stop to collusion between the police and the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers, and with members of the Ogboni cult; no more harassment of market women returning from their work; the ‘abolition of the collection of 50k-N5 [by the Highway Patrol], equal treatment for everybody; and fair treatment for all legitimate drivers by the police.”
Ironically, Anini, while still committing atrocities, posed as an advocate and deliverer of the suffering masses of Nigeria, including his fellow criminals whom he described as “innocent armed robbers.”
His reign of terror which peaked between August and December, 1986, was so bloody and widespread that he was even discussed at National Security Council meetings chaired by General Babangida himself who furiously posed the question to the IGP, Mr. EtimInyang: “My friend, where is Anini.”
General Babangida ordered a massive manhunt for Anini and his cohorts. A crack team of policemen, from outside Anini’s home region of Bendel State, operating under tight secrecy, hounded them, combing every nook and cranny of his state, especially Benin City, the capital, which the group was said to be using as its operational headquarters.
The effort finally paid off. Finally, on December 3, 1986, the team captured Anini in the company of six girlfriends in Benin City. Some other members of the group were also nabbed at different locations.
While in custody, Anini made some startling revelations, disclosing the identities of six police officers, including DSP George Iyamu, as their accomplices who tipped them off about plans to get them. Iyamu, the most senior among the officers, was also said to have provided guns and other logistics for the Anini bunch.
On March 29, 1987, Anini who was just over 26 years, was executed by firing squad, together with his bandits, after being convicted and sentenced to death for armed robbery by a High Court. DSP Iyamu and four other policemen also suffered the same fate.
Thirty-five years on, another top cop, Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, widely touted as a potential IGP, has fallen from grace to grass after being implicated in a cocaine deal with a notorious internet scammer and drug dealer.
In Ghana, when a spate of attacks on bullion vans hit recently, the police had good cause to look everywhere except within their own ranks. After all, the police are the trusted ones to go after the crooks!
But it turned out to be all wrong. Duncan’s words came into play: “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” About six servicemen who mourned the death of a colleague cruelly murdered in one of the bullion van attacks, turned out to be shedding crocodile tears.
They were the very criminals the police were looking for. Two of them died inexplicably in a shooting incident when the police went with them after their civilian accomplices. Four others are on remand while their trial goes on,.
In another development, the M.C.E. of New Juaben South, Mr Isaac Appaw Gyasi, on June 21, 2022, was reported to have revealed that some moles among the security personnel in his municipality, have been countering efforts to arrest sex traffickers and commercial sex kingpins by leaking information on operational strategies adopted for the arrest and prosecution of the criminals.
In recent times, sex trafficking and commercial sex business are getting out of hand in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional Capital, with reports alleging that the municipality has become the destination of choice for Nigerians and other foreign nationals engaged in the illicit activities.
With the connivance of Ghanaian accomplices, those foreigners lure young girls into believing that decent and well-paying jobs are available in Ghana only for them to be pushed into those practices.
The irony is that while the new police administration under C.O.P Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, is making strenuous attempts to reduce crime significantly, traitors within the service are thwarting these efforts by conniving with criminals.
New ways of policing, hitherto unheard of in Ghana, have now been introduced into the service. This includes the establishment of a K-9 (canine) Unit whose officers and trained security dogs are stationed at vantage points across Accra for operational patrols.
This new way of policing forms part of the Proactive Preventive Policing Strategy and it is aimed at increasing the visibility of personnel, improving intelligence gathering, tracking of contraband goods, and improving upon other aspects of criminal investigations. Plans are underway to extend the strategy to other regions in the near future.
Another innovation is the horse patrol in various areas as part of the visibility strategy to nip crime in the bud. Besides, Regional, Divisional, and District Police Commanders across the country, on Monday, June 20, 2022, embarked on an intensive community engagement nationwide with a view to bringing policing to the doorsteps of Ghanaians as well as gathering intelligence.
Very lofty ideas but with the moles as recalcitrant as ever, what is the future of policing in Ghana in particular, Africa as a whole, and the world in general?
The programmes demand trustworthy security personnel to succeed. But, again, “there’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” For that reason, let there be foolproof background checks before new officers are enlisted into the Ghana Police Service.
For those criminals already in uniform, give them no rest. Hound them and flush them all out. They must be put out of service. Period!
Contact:teepeejubilee@yahoo.co.uk
By Tonny Prempeh
After a heavy rain in Accra, the story Ghana repeats itself is easy to see. Drains overflow, streets turn into streams, and families are forced to wade through waist-deep, dirty water. When the floods finally recede, they leave behind more than just mud; they leave a tangled net of sachet wrappers, takeaway packs, and plastic bags that trap our neighbourhoods.
At the same time, in our homes and markets, piles of cassava peels and spoiled fruits rot in open bins, attracting pests and emitting foul odours. This is not just a nuisance; it is a national economic failure. The plastic blocking our drains and the organic matter that could restore our soils are both being treated as rubbish when they should be treated as resources.
Ghana is at a crossroads. We can continue the “take–make–waste” culture that floods our neighbourhoods, damages public health, and drains local government budgets. Or we can choose a practical, Ghana-ready circular approach: reduce plastics at the source, collect what remains efficiently, and separate organic waste so it becomes compost and bio fertiliser for farming. If Ghana harmonises plastic reduction with urban nutrient cycling, we can solve two national problems with one coordinated system cleaner cities and stronger food security.
The unseen link between plastics, floods, and food prices
Plastic pollution is often framed as an environmental issue. But in Ghana, it is also an infrastructure and public health problem. When drains are choked, flooding damages property, disrupts business, spreads disease, and increases the cost of city management. Assemblies spend scarce resources on emergency desilting and clean-up money that could have improved sanitation systems permanently. But the link does not end there. Our waste crisis is now feeding our food crisis.
Most of what Ghana throws away is not plastic. A large fraction is organic waste biodegradable material that should never be mixed with plastics in the first place. When organics and plastics are mixed in the same bins and the same trucks, everything becomes “dirty”: plastics are harder to recycle and organic matter becomes contaminated and unusable for compost. The result is a lose–lose system where nothing returns to productive use.
This matters because Ghana’s soils are tired. Farmers across the country complain about declining fertility and rising fertiliser costs. If our cities were capturing organic waste cleanly and converting it into high-quality compost or bio fertiliser, that material could return to farms as soil amendment improving yields, reducing dependence on imported inputs, and strengthening resilience. In other words, the waste we bury today is the fertility we import tomorrow.
Why the current approach keeps failing
Ghana’s waste system is still largely designed for “collection and disposal,” not “collection and recovery.” That is why, even when clean-up campaigns happen, the problem returns quickly. We are treating symptoms, not the system. Three structural failures keep recycling and composting from scaling:
1) We do not separate waste at the source: once plastics, food waste, and other refuse are mixed together, it is expensive and often unsafe to sort
2) We have weak accountability for packaging; plastic producers and major distributors profit from packaging, but the cost of cleanup is left mostly to assemblies and taxpayers. That imbalance is unsustainable.
3) We don’t link waste recovery to strong end-markets: recycling and composting only survive when there is steady demand: manufacturers buying recycled plastics and farmers or institutions buying compost. Without guaranteed markets, recovery systems collapse.
The good news is that these failures are not destiny. They are policy choices and can be corrected. To make this real, Ghana must adopt a practical two-stream approach:
- Stream 1: Dry recyclables (plastics, metals, cartons)
- Stream 2: Organic waste (food and green waste for composting)
This separation is the bridge that connects plastic reduction to nutrient cycling. When organics are kept separate, compost becomes cleaner and safer. When dry recyclables are not soaked in rot and liquids, recycling capture becomes easier and more profitable.
A Five-Point Policy Package
1. Make Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) real
Producers and major importers of plastic packaging must help fund its collection and recovery. This is not punishment; it is responsibility. EPR should require: registration of major packaging producers/importers, clear recovery targets, audited reporting, and a ring-fenced fund that supports collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure. When producers share the cost, assemblies are less overwhelmed and recovery systems become financially viable.
2. Launch citywide source separation starting with pilots that actually scale.
Assemblies should begin with high-impact zones: markets, institutions, and dense neighbourhoods. Keep it simple: two bins (dry recyclables and organics), predictable collection days, community education in local languages, enforcement that is fair and gradual (warnings first, then penalties). The aim is not to punish households; it is to create a new normal that makes sorting easy and consistent.
3. Build composting and bio fertiliser capacity and guarantee offtake to agriculture.
Separation only matters if there is a destination. Ghana should invest in: municipal composting hubs, private compost enterprises, and quality standards to protect farmers from contaminated products. Most importantly, link compost to demand. Government agriculture programmes, district assemblies, and farmer cooperatives can create an offtake market so compost plants do not die from lack of buyers. This is where waste policy and food policy meet.
4. Integrate the informal sector properly because they are already doing the work.
Waste pickers and informal collectors are not a problem; they are part of the solution. Any serious circular strategy must include: contracts or cooperative arrangements, PPE and basic health protections, fair pricing systems at sorting centres, and training on safe handling. If we ignore the informal sector, we lose capacity. If we formalise them without respect, we create conflict. Integration must be practical and dignified.
5. Use public procurement and incentives to grow circular markets.
Circular systems need buyers. Government can help by: prioritising products made with recycled content where feasible, supporting local manufacturing of recycled plastic items (pipes, bins, furniture), providing tax incentives or concessional financing for recycling/composting businesses, and rewarding compliance and innovation instead of only punishing failure.
Final Statement
Ghana’s waste crisis is not only about litter; it is about lost opportunity. Plastic can be recovered. Organic waste can be composted. Jobs can be created across collection, sorting, processing, logistics, and retail. Assemblies can spend less on emergency clean-up and more on permanent sanitation. Farmers can access local soil amendments and reduce vulnerability to imported input shocks. But none of this happens by accident. It requires alignment: environmental regulation, local government action, private sector investment, and agricultural offtake all moving in the same direction. We do not need more sympathy speeches after floods. We need systems that prevent the next flood, reduce the next disease outbreak, and rebuild the next harvest. A circular Ghana is not a dream. It is a decision.
By Lawrencia Yeboah-Duah
There was quite a decent crowd at the Beach Club. The boys were already seated, and two waiters were standing by them, taking their orders. We also placed ours, and joined the conversation after introductions. ‘
So madam’, I said as I turned towards Kwakyewaa, ‘What are you studying in France?’ ‘Actually, I just completed my Diploma in Building Decoration. I studied Land Economy at KNUST, and whilst on a visit to France I met a school mate who was studying in a Design School, and after some discussions I also enrolled on the course’.
‘That is very interesting. So what aspects of building design did you cover?’
‘Well, naturally I studied some general aspects of buildings, then I concentrated on the fittings and other things that make them look nice’.
‘Very interesting. Perhaps you can give me a few interesting design ideas. When are you going back?’ ‘In two weeks. I need to go and find a job’.
‘I will need to talk with you at some length, before you leave’.
‘I didn’t know you were into buildings. First I learned that you were into agriculture, but yesterday Esaaba said you were rather into development work in the north’.
‘Esaaba is very correct. I have been in development work in the north for three years. But I need to discuss a building project I’m doing in Accra’.
‘Anytime. I will be very ready to help’.
After quite a bit of dancing, we decided to call it a night, and I took off with the two ladies for the ride home. ‘David’, Esaaba said, ‘thanks for a wonderful evening. What a lovely place’.
‘Yes indeed’, Kwakyewaa said. ‘Nice place, nice band, and beautiful environment. Many thanks, David’. ‘If you have really enjoyed it as you say, then let’s do it again’.
‘We promise!’ the two ladies said as if on cue, and broke into laughter.
‘David, when do you want to have the discussion you mentioned?’
‘Anytime convenient to you. How about lunchtime on Monday? I can pick you up around eleven-thirty’. ‘It is fine. I don’t have anything planned for Monday. I will be looking forward to it’.
‘I got to the house on Monday as planned, and was about to step out of the car when Kwakyewaa came out, followed by Esaaba’. ‘Esaaba’, I said, ‘I thought you would be at work at the pharmacy at this time’. ‘I should, but I stayed home to do a report for our head office. I am on my way now. I will get off at the roundabout’. ‘I will drop you at the office, but before that, you are joining us for lunch’.
‘Okay Bernard. No objection’.
‘Now, Esaaba, I need to mention this. Has Abena informed you that our relationship is over?’
‘She hasn’t told me in black and white, but I get that impression from her body language and some of her utterances. For example, I was surprised that she was going out last Friday with Jennifer when you came to the house. You had been out of town for a while, and I thought she would want to spend time with you’.
‘We haven’t sat down to discuss this, but as you said, her utterances and body language were a little unusual, but I now have confirmation that she is seeing someone.
Quite a number of people have seen them together, and she used to ask me some funny questions about my work. I hear she has been saying that I am not doing any development work, but I’m rather an agricultural extension officer, and that she has met a wealthy person who can take care of her. She’s free to believe or say anything she likes, so I won’t bother to discuss it with her. I think she would prefer that.
‘I’m surprised she hasn’t said anything to us. Perhaps she believes that because of our relationship with you, we would not approve’.
‘Maybe, but it’s her life. She’s free to do what she wants. But she can’t stop me from coming to spend time with you guys’
I dropped Esaaba at work, and drove to the office. Kwakyewa greeted Eva and Robert, and after offering her a seat, I introduced them. ‘Now Kwakyewaa’, after my B.Sc. Economics degree I did an MA in Project Management, and got a job as Project Manager with the EU, based in the north. It has been a very enjoyable job, and fortunately well paid. Soon as I started, my mentor advised me to find some run down or uncompleted buildings in prime areas, buy them and, after fixing them up, put them up for sale.
I have done several, and I have now bought a block of six houses. I have just started the process of fixing them. Now, I would like you to take a look at the block, and offer me some advice. First, take a look at these documents’. I opened a page on my laptop and placed it in front of her.
‘Wow, this is very interesting. You know, I did similar work for a firm in France. When can we go to the site?’ ‘Right now. Eva, would you like to join us? I know Robert is expecting some visitors.’
We spent over two hours at the site, with Eva and I, offering answers to her numerous questions. Finally, we arrived back at the office. ‘This is really exciting, and very impressive. I would like to make some suggestions, on design, painting, and landscape’. ‘You start work tomorrow. Eva or Robert will pick you up, and drop you after work’.
‘Okay. I will try to do as much as I can before I leave’.
‘You are assuming that I will allow you to leave in two weeks?’ She broke into great laughter. ‘Shall we get a drink before I drop you?’ ‘Of course. Let’s talk in some detail about the project. So you are a very big man. Does Abena know about this?’ ‘No. We had a good relationship until she started spending time with Jennifer. She changed completely, so I quickly lost interest’. ‘Maybe she would not have taken that decision if she really knew the kind of person you are’.
‘I think I gave her enough indication, but she is easily swayed by appearances. She and Jennifer were always talking about rich people, well dressed people, stuff like that. I resent that. I also like the good life, but I prefer a low profile’.
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