Let’s attack the foe, not the folk

Allegations of assault against civilians by security officers deployed to enforce the law on lockdown in some parts of the country are rife in the media. The security authorities have denied the allegations, although the military has confirmed an instance involving a soldier has been dealt with by recalling the said soldier to barracks for investigations. The isolated case notwithstanding, the issue of assault by security forces against civilians in times like this cannot be resigned to the back burner of national discourse.

The confirmed isolated case of assault plus the scared memory of such culture of brute, even under the democratic dispensation of the Fourth Republic, gives resolute impression that our security officers are not properly oriented to deal with civilians, especially in crisis situations such as we currently find ourselves. That is as deadly as coronavirus and that is why we should be alarmed by its emergence in Ghana locked down.

It is very scary to hear some people endorse brute as the mode of enforcing the law on the lockdown directive. It is even more staggering to find people whose professional calling enjoins them to denounce such culture of brute in a democratic dispensation rather endorsing and applauding it as proper means of ensuring compliance of the law.

Indeed, excesses of security officers in the enforcement of the law must be condemned in no uncertain terms. The security officers cannot be more lawless than the lawless. In every society, there are deviants; that’s why laws are enacted to deal with such deviants. As law enforcers (legally the police, and in current circumstances, including other security agencies), their job is to enforce the law. And there is nowhere in the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012), which is currently in force, that prescribes assault as punishment for breach of the law.

The security officers need to enforce the law by arrest and prosecution; they cannot enforce the law in its breach. Why did the Executive and Legislature spend resources, including time and money, to speedily prepare and pass Act 1012, if brute is the desirable mode of enforcement? Yes, coronavirus may have placed us under a state of crisis but NO, the crisis situation doesn’t displace us from under the rule of law!

True, there have been, and there will surely be, instances of infringement of the lockdown directive, including people deceiving security officers about their mission in town and others, out of sheer curiosity, going out to verify whether police and soldiers are on the streets. Their deviance endangers all of us. That is why some people, including civilians, interestingly, have called these deviants of the law ‘fools’ who are bent on putting everyone at risk of contracting COVID-19 and for which reason they deserve the dirtiest slap, severest canning and strongest kick in the groin by security officers to teach them a lesson. But no! We need democratic reproach rather than despotic approach as solution to the deviance. So just arrest and prosecute!

Article 15(1) of the 1992 Constitution is clear (and I believe those describing deviants of the law on lockdown as ‘fools’ are not deviants of the Constitution): “The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable”. And “all persons” in this context include the so-called ‘fools’.



And hear what Article 15(2) says: “No person shall, whether or not he is arrested, RESTRICTED (emphasis mine) or detained, be subjected to (a) torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (b) any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from his dignity and worth as a human being”.

In my humble view, any person who does not appreciate and/or uphold these provisions of the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, is a deviant of the law and, perhaps, worse than the derogatory description accorded offenders of the Imposition of Restriction Act, which is an inferior law to the Constitution.

It is worthy of note that the so-called ‘fools’ violating the restriction order by the president did not bring coronavirus to Ghana, for heaven’s sake! And if we have tolerated ‘importers’ of COVID-19 to the extent of accommodating them in plush hotels and giving them three square meals for 14 days, upon arrival at the Kotoka International Airport, why can’t we tolerate the obvious ignorance of the ‘fools’ violating a law imposed on us through no fault of theirs, and take them through simple process of law – arrest and prosecution – rather than assault them?

From the many instances of infringement of the lockdown order, it is obvious there is lack of education and awareness creation on the pandemic. There are even very well-educated people, many of them travellers from abroad, who have displayed stark ignorance in terms of compliance with safety protocols against coronavirus. How much more people in the lower class? We need to intensify education and awareness creation on the coronavirus regime to liberate the ‘fools’ from their folly and ensure our collective safety.

What we need at this point in the life of an emotionally-charged nation is tact, sensitivity and circumspection. As the President said in his last COVID-19 Update, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to dealing with the pandemic and so our approach must reflect our peculiar national character. Hopefully, assault by security officers against civilians is not within contemplation of our national character.

Admittedly, we are not in normal times. But in our battle against COVID-19, it is imperative for us to appreciate that our foe is not our folk.