Two police officers attached to the Bolgatanga Municipal Police station in the Upper East Region last Thursday evening went on a drinking spree at Yikeni, a suburb of Bolgatanga after which they brutalized about five residents of the community who were going about their normal businesses.
The two officers who were in their uniforms and wielded weapons were said to have driven an unregistered saloon car to a drinking spot at Yikeni. They later left the drinking spot and first attacked, chased and molested an old man who was clearing bushes along the road the Bolgatanga-Navrongo highway.
An eye witness who pleaded anonymity told this reporter that anyone who attempted to find out why the officers were beating up the people was not spared.
The eyewitness said; “I saw the man myself [the old man]. They were weeding – that they were given contract by the assembly to weed along the road so that there will be free flow of water and clear the grass. So the old man was weeding and there is also a drinking spot by that side. When I asked the old man what happened, he said he didn’t know. He said he was weeding and they [police officers] just pounced on him and started beating him. So he ran across the road. So the nearby people were now asking ah! Is he a thief or what? So they were also rushing to see what happened. Anybody who tried to find out what happened, they would beat you. The people I saw that they [police] beat were about five people. And they came with a car without number. And if you were there, you didn’t need somebody to tell you that they were drunk and they were in uniform”
He also said the officers fired warning shots and sprayed a substance he suspected was tear gas on the face of a young man he was also beaten up.
Assemblyman for the Yikeni Electoral Area, Mr. Nsoh Issaka, who was visibly disturbed about the gross misconduct of the police officers, lodged an official complaint at the municipal police station.
After meeting with the victims and some of their family members including the assemblyman, in his office, the municipal police crime officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Solomon Isahaku declined to give details of their discussion except to say the issue had been resolved.
Mr. Nsoh told TopNews Ghana after the meeting that: “I wanted to find out because there are some things worrying me because we are supposed to be working with the police. How they are patrolling if there is a criminal hiding, we will give them the information and they come and they are beating people and we want to find out and they are beating us, how do we give them information? People are going about saying that people don’t like police. If you are doing like this, how do we build trust and give information. I wanted to go further and say that you don’t hold a weapon and be drinking. If you hold a weapon and you are drinking, you know the drink can have an influence. As the two of them were sitting there – the two officers who were involved, I could see that they were drunk.”
When I wanted to talk, they were insulting me in the crime officer’s officer. The two of them insulted me that I’m stupid. If you are assemblyman and so what? What can you do?
The lawlessness among the police in recent times was becoming a major concern to many human rights activists. This gross misconducts are eroding police-public trust and if not checked by the police administration, policing especially in communities could be affected and would give way to the already-increasing crime rates in the country.
Source:TopNewsGhana.com
