Getting to the bottom of the matter

ON Saturday, September 19, 2009 residents in and around Kokomlemle in Accra woke up to a sad news of the death of a twenty-one (21) year old man. The deceased was allegedly gunned down by a police/military patrol team who were on patrol within the locality.

IT is refreshing that the Inspector General of Police-IGP, Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, has, after that unfortunate incident, directed the arrest of the four policemen involved in the shooting incident, pending further investigations into the matter. The step taken by the IGP will help the grieving family and the general public to know the truth of the case.

AGAIN TODAY is happy that a high-powered delegation from the Police Headquarters and the Accra Regional Police Command four days ago (Saturday, 26th September, 2009) visited the family of the late young man. The mission of the police delegation was to console and assure them that the police was sparing no effort to get to the bottom of the case.

FOR now, all what is in the public domain is accusations and counter accusations from the patrol team and that of the deceased’s family. Whilst the family members are saying that their son was a victim of circumstance, and are therefore demanding justice, the patrol team on the other hand thinks otherwise.

IT is good that an investigation has been launched to ascertain the whole truth in the matter. As it stands now, the case is a very delicate one and must be looked at seriously. Even before the investigations will be over for Ghanaians to know the whole truth, we on this paper believe there are very pressing questions which must be answered by the patrol team.

THE first question is: why the patrol team left the deceased to death when some of the residents in the area were willing to help? What harm could a criminal as the patrol team claim who had been incapacitated by gunshot wounds do to them at that material moment? These are nagging and mind-boggling questions which must be addressed satisfactorily by members of the patrol team.

THERE have been situations where security officers have erred in the line of their duty. This happens everywhere in this world. But then, there is suspicion where such circumstances point to a deliberate attempt by our law enforcement agencies—who are expected to be protecting civilians.s

WE at TODAY welcome the move by the IGP to get to the bottom of the matter and to ensure that justice prevails in Kokomlemle incident. It appears that so far only the four policemen have been arrested to assist in the investigations. We hope that the military officers who were part of the patrol would also be apprehended to assist in the investigations.

IT is also the belief of the paper that our law enforcement agencies will relentlessly and diligently continue to perform their duties of ridding Ghana of criminals and protecting lives and properties. This, we urge them, to act with professionalism.