IGP Christian Tetteh Yohuno
Law enforcement or policing is very critical in every civilised society where the rule of law persists.
As a human institution, there are bound to be occasional infractions on the part of personnel, these should not however be rampant.
In the US, the George Floyd story cast a dark cloud over that country’s policing standards. The assault on the black man and his subsequent death gave birth to the hashtag #I Can’t Breathe.
In Ghana, we inherited a colonial police traits of whose use of brutish force on Gold Coasters linger even after 68 years of independence.
Over the years, conscious efforts have been put in by successive governments to give the police a new image and win the confidence of the people.
Various degrees of successes have been chalked in this direction over the years. Successive Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) have scorecards for perusal; these define the quality of the Chief Constables. Included in these are their ability to refuse to be poodles of the political leadership.
When the immediate past IGP, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare exited the office, many heaved a sigh of relief because they scored him low in his management of his mandate.
Enter IGP Christian Tetteh Yohuno and it appears things are taking a worrying turn.
He is said to be kowtowing to the whims and caprices of the executive arm of government.
The Ablekuma North election re-run and its attendant woes continue to haunt those who suffered the brunt of party hired thugs even as police officers were deployed to the location.
The arrest of persons deemed to have committed acts of misdemeanours against the IGP and the treatment they suffered at the hands of their captors leave much to be desired.
While we abhor hate speech, we would be quick to state that overreaching reactions by those entrusted with the enforcement of the law should be condemned.
In Tamale, students of the Tamale Technical University were manhandled by the police and we demanded of the IGP to take immediate action against the erring cops, videos of which misconduct went viral on social media.
In Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region, a man was allegedly dragged from his house when the police stormed his house to arrest him last week.
He suffered shocks from police tasers and died before medical intervention at hospital.
The subsequent mob attack on the police station made headlines on social media.
Ghana under IGP Christian Tetteh Yohuno is enduring a resuscitation of police harassment.
The demonstration yesterday by youth of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) was in order because in a democratic setting, the people have the right to bare their teeth against acts which constitute human rights infringement.
Should such harassments continue, the police would lose total confidence of the people and the kind of mob action witnessed in Kukurantumi, which though inappropriate, could be replicated in other places much to the detriment of good governance.