It was absolutely refreshing reading in the newspapers and watching on social media how the Ghana police, under the leadership of Mr Christian Tetteh Yohonu, together with their counterparts in Nigeria, were able to untie the complex web of criminality to not only free the two Ghanaian women lured and kidnapped in Nigeria, but also arrest the suspects and their accomplices.
I enjoyed the narrative so much that even when I got to the end of it, I wish it had continued because everything was more like a movie than a reality. A great job by all standards! Not that the Ghana police were incapable of unearthing complex issues; the surprise emanated from the fact that over the years, some Ghanaians seem to have lost confidence in their dedication to duty.
The police told us of the involvement of an employee of a telecommunication company in Ghana in the crime commission. He was said to be fraudulently registering SIM cards which he sold to some of the suspects. This revelation didn’t shock some of us. This has been the suspicion of many victims of this kind of fraud.
Recently, a popular telecommunication company came out to debunk a wild rumour that its system had been hijacked and that Momo accounts of clients were safe. A state agency, however, intervened to assure clients that it was conducting investigations into the breach for refunds to those who might have suffered some losses.
The discovery of complicity by some telecom staff is telling us something different from that denial. Some of us were extremely happy and supportive of efforts by the previous regime to re-register all SIM cards, feeling that that was going to end the fraud associated with SIM cards. But it was like pouring water on the duck as its biggest punishment.
The government is also telling us that it has plans to make this type of crime a thing of the past through re-registration. We can’t wait to experience that. Sure, cybercrime seems to be a global canker, but its degree in Ghana seems to be at a different level. It’s hoped that Hon Sam George will bring relief to us.
My information is that, in parts of Accra, some people are registering SIM cards in their names for sale to Nigerians, without taking cognisance of the danger they are putting themselves into. I wonder why telecommunication companies will allow an individual to have ten SIM cards registered in their name. Does an individual need even five numbers of same company? The telecommunication companies may only want to boast of a very large customer-base, but some of the registrations are fraudulent and it’s time the government reviewed that.
Some of those who read or heard of this huge success chalked up by the Ghana police will wonder why the same enthusiasm is not shown in certain cases, particularly those that have personally been affected. Since 2017, a man of over 70 years and I have been seeking the arrest and prosecution of some armed men who attacked us in our sleep in our houses at night, leaving us with permanent disabilities and pellets lodged in our body. No arrest has been made. We strongly believe that certain things went zig-zag during police investigations. The case is now with the Cold Case Unit, and like a 10-year-old murder case that was finally unraveled at Golokuati in the VR, we’re optimistic of getting justice one day.
One Senior Police Officer, DSP Sydney Domaka, deserves our eternal gratitude. A driver, whose vehicle was involved in a head-on collision at Peki, VR, and his car owner died, escaped arrest. All the papers were defective. This police man, then an inspector, traced the suspect for over four years, always giving assurances to the surviving victims, most of whom were market women. He did the movements at a cost to himself. He eventually arrested the suspect from his hideout in Yendi to the excitement and disbelief of the victims, who were subsequently given justice at a court in Ho. It was not, therefore, surprising that this policeman is today a Senior Officer. The likes of DSP Domaka keep our hopes alive that we will receive justice, no matter how long it takes.
By BAS
The post Kudos Ghana Police, But… appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.
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