Heads are sure to roll, but caution on trial by media

The front pages are full of stories about cops, drugs and corruption. The Ghana Police Service, as we were reminded by the police this week, is an institution charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in the country. “Among other functions, it is also charged with the responsibility of prevention and detection of crime, protection of life and property, apprehension and prosecution of offenders,” the police statement read.

With its lurid allegations and roster of Sopranos-style ‘revelations’, the scandal has kept Ghanaians spellbound. Even a political party, a leading member of which was arrested in March over the same alleged Venezuelan drugs ring, it looking to make political capital out of it.

Ghana is fast gaining the kind of notoriety often reserved for places like Afghanistan, Thailand and Columbia, where it is difficult to tell a top cop from a drug baron in an identification parade.

But, perhaps, the most disturbing aspect of the unfolding scandal is that the majority of Ghanaians do not appear to be at all surprised by the allegations that senior police officers are in cohorts with drug smugglers. It is as if our cops are not just on the "take"; they ran a full-service crime departmental store.

It gets murkier and murkier with the Minister of Interior reportedly conceding that police officers are not angels. “But, by the nature of their work, police officers are supposed to be like angels,” bellowed a lawyer who spoke to this paper yesterday.

There is something seriously rotten within our police service. Fortunately, there is a transparent independent inquiry, albeit limited in scope, on the matter, and the eyes of the media are ferociously trained on it.

But, there is also the risk of reckless trial by media, with allegations, counter allegations and denials flying on Peace, Adom, Joy and Citi. What seems almost absolute is that heads will roll. And, probably tilapia-size heads, too, not small fish, like Keta School Boys.

The stakes were indeed very high. Information that have reached The Statesman suggests that at one time, the fugitive alleged Venezuelan drug baron, David Vasquez Duarte Gerardo just before confidently fleeing our shores, had in his possession $25 million. Was he actively helped by law officers to get away?

The probe into the five kilos that went missing from the custody of the Narcotics Control Board, has been completed and sent to the Attorney-General, who is expected to release his report on it early next week.

But, the Justice Georgina Wood committee is looking into 77 missing parcels apparently on the high seas. Each parcel contained 30 pieces of one kilogramme each packages. Thus, a total of 2,200 kilos of cocaine disappeared just before a team of Ghanaian forces, led by the Navy, swooped on the vessel in Ghana.

"The police role in this raid on the vessel was very, very minimal," a source disclosed. The vessel was seized in Tema on April 27.

Our law enforcement agents were tipped by the foreign counterparts of the over two tones of cocaine consignment heading towards our shores. But, by the time our officers stormed the vessel, there was only one parcel, containing 30 kilos left. Moreover, it was five kilos of this remaining parcel that went missing in the custody of our Narcotics Control authority.

These high profile cases pushed our international partners in the war on hard drugs to lose confidence in our resolve against drug trafficking. However, Government's swiftness in suspending the head of the Narcotics Control outfit and setting up the two committees, have gone some way to restore some confidence. Moves to refuse drug suspects facing serious charges bail are likely to enhance our image in the fight against drug trafficking.

The opposition party in Parliament Wednesday called rather for a new bi-partisan committee to investigate the allegations against the police officers accused of receiving drugs money as bribes.

Joe Ghartey, the Attorney-General says he has no objection to a parliamentary enquiry, though defended government's responsibility to set up one, "It is the duty of the Executive to govern."

He also described the committee of enquiry headed by the Supreme Court judge as "Independent and credible."

"In the process of governing, certain things have come to our attention, we are using the legal processes of government and we have created an arm length body which is enquiring into a particular situation."

Still in Accra, the trial of the two Venezuelans caught with 588 kilograms of cocaine at East Legon in November 2006 was yesterday adjourned to October 16 by the Fast Track High Court in Accra because of the legal vacation slated for August.

The two, Joel Meija Duarte Moises, aka Joel Mella, a 35-year-old machine operator and Italo Gervasio Rosero, alias Italio Cabeza Castillo, a 38-year-old businessman, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit crime, importing narcotic drugs without lawful authority and possessing narcotic drugs without authority.

They were again denied bail.

The Ghana Police Service, Albert Kan-Dapaah tried to assure Ghanaians this week, is among the most effective and efficient institutions in West Africa. "If we are thinking that all the people in the police service are angels and that they do not err, then we are deceiving ourselves. There are some bad nuts in there, but we must make sure that those bad nuts do not influence the operations of the service," the Interior Minister cleverly observed in an interview with the Accra Daily Mail this week.