Commercial drivers operating in the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) have decried the tactics of some Police Officers who now bargain for monies they take from commercial drivers as punishment for road traffic offences.
According to the drivers, the police have now introduced a new system of extorting monies from them.
“Instead of pointing out our faults when they arrest us, they rather demand money,” a Taxi driver told TODAY.
The paper also gathered that some police officers have prepared price lists with which drivers are billed when they are arrested.
Other drivers from Tema Manhean who spoke to TODAY explained that the police patrol teams in the Community only embark on “Operation Arrest-The-Taxi-Driver” at nights instead of going after armed robbers and drug peddlers — who have become a nuisance to inhabitants.
The paper gathered from the drivers that the Tema Patrol goes from their station to the Tema Manhean Bridge and back which is about 300metres away from the police station.
One driver, who gave his name as Tetteh Apoh, disclosed to this reporter that instead of the police going after the bad guys in the Community, they take delight in harassing and extorting monies from drivers.
“They know where the ‘Wee boys’ are yet they won’t go for them because they are afraid of them. They rather come setting traps and chasing us for the little money we make for the day,” a Taxi driver told TODAY.
The drivers also noted that the main road which leads to the Tema Manhean Township does not have proper bus stops and road traffic signs to help the drivers whose activities extend to the town, and they blamed it on the contractor who constructed the road.
“Those who constructed this road did a very bad work and we are suffering for it. This is unfair,” a driver lamented.
Another Taxi driver who spoke to this reporter revealed that police officers board cars right in front of the main entrance of their station and yet arrest drivers who pick up passengers from that same place with the excuse that the place is not a bus stop or parking space.
However, a Police Constable TODAY spoke to on the issue disclosed that it is not right for any driver to park or pick a person in front of the police station.
He admitted that though it was wrong, some of the police officers were doing it.
The Constable also stated that bus stops were not properly structured on the main Tema Manhean road, adding that though the situation is not fair to drivers they police have no option but to follow what they came to meet.
BY NANA AMA PREBAH
