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Sikaman Cops and mob justice
When your driving license expires and a policeman “cranks” you, there are two options. You can decide to scratch the policeman’s back and he will in turn scratch your back. It is a brotherly agreement, and you can go on driving until you are caught by another policeman.
The back-scratching solution to traffic offences is known in official gasettes as corruption. The act itself is known as bribery.
The second option is that you’ll be processed for court, for you to go and tell the judge why you think you are above the law. Normally, the judges don’t mind who you are or think you are. They’ll bunch you up with taxi drivers who are color-blind and cannot distinguished between red-light and green-light.
Others in your company will be articulated truck drivers who are specialists in parking in the middle of the road to cause accidents. At least, you’ll find one lady driver among the 30 offenders in court, and she’ll be shivering uncontrollably. She can’t bear the sight of the judge. A serial traffic offender will be in the group. In his back-pocket is cash to pay the fine.
In some courts, traffic offenders are so many that the judge can be tempted to give them the same fine so as not to burden the court.
NUISANCE
If you are in court for a traffic offence, it is best if you plead guilty, pay a fine and go back to continue breaking the law. Recalcitrance is a way of life on the roads, and some people regard the court fines as a mere nuisance and not something that can reform them.
Now, going back to back-scratching, the Sikaman policemen is probably one of the most miserable you can find in the world. A whole policeman with a wife and four kids has a salary that can only motivate him to take bribe.
Some policemen can’t even afford a cup of coffee before they go to direct traffic to control the early morning rush. At about 9:30 a.m. he must find direction to the nearest kokonte bar to face the wall, otherwise he’ll collapse in the middle of the road. If he doesn’t drink soup, it will not be well with him. Sometimes, people give cash to policemen not because they want to bribe them, but because they feel pity for them. I used to have a Chief Inspector friend who is now retired. He once showed me his pay slip and I had to admit that such a man can only survive by magic or through corruption.
It is the belief that every policeman who is well-paid will not take bribe. If he does, then he is doing so not because he is in need, but because he is either a greedy cop or a criminal from birth.
IMAGE
So corruption within the police service must be looked at vis-a-vis remuneration for all ranks. At least, if a sergeant gets GH¢3.5m a month, he won’t take GH¢2,000 from a driver to denigrate the image of the service.
As a result of the low level of remuneration, many funny things happen and this affects police-public relations. For example, there is the infamous “complainant turns accused” syndrome. It all has to do with the highest bidder becoming the complainant, no matter the nature of the case.
A friend had a case with some Spanish nationals who threatened to kill him when a business deal went awry. He reported to the police and they locked up the Spanish guys.
The next morning I went to the police station and I was shocked. The Spanish guys had been released and in their place was my friend, cooling off.
When people start losing confidence in the police and the law, then whenever they seek justice, they will take the law into their own hands. That is why mob justice is normally prevalent where the police are either incapable or are too corrupt to deal with crime.
So when a criminal is caught, he is either lynched or beaten senseless. Police stations are invaded or burnt down, policemen are attacked and harmed and there is a general public outcry against police methods, brutality, unfairness and even procedures of granting bail.
It is good that policemen are being transferred so that they do not become too familiar with people in their areas of operation.
Generally, however, the police have conducted themselves well, pushing criminals right to the wall and scoring good points on the roads, easing traffic. The robotic police man readily comes to mind.
He used breakdancing to direct traffic and almost turned his job into a crowd-pulling venture in the capital. Motorists even slowed down or stopped to catch a glimpse of the action.
However, in the field of detection, I think there is more. I remember when I was a kid in the north, we were all so fond of my father’s driver, but we didn’t know he was a smuggler turned fugitive.
DETECTIVE
One vacation, he drove us to our hometown and said he wanted to see a relation in Ho. That was the last time we saw him. We did not know that a young detective had been searching for him ever since he escaped arrest three years back.
My father later learnt that the man was drinking beer with a girlfriend in a bar when the detective pounced on him like a cheetah. He was too surprised and wondered how for three years, a detective could be on his trail.
I was about 11 years at the time, and although I felt sorry for the driver, I also doffed my hat to the detective-corporal. He knew his job. I hope we have more of such guys today in the service.
This article was first published
on Saturday, July 16, 2005
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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