The life of every police officer matters

To The Speaker Of Parliament

Ghana, Accra

Dear Mr. Speaker,

THE LIFE OF EVERY SINGLE POLICE OFFICER MATTERS

Mr. Speaker, I write to you from Peki in the Volta Region just beneath the Akuapem - Togo range.

I have already written one to the president and I feel it very necessary to write to you too since the parliament is a separate entity on its own. My next letter will go to the Chief Justice who is the head of the judiciary which is also another separate entity on its own.

It is a matter of life and death so you must grant me audience because the life of every single police officer matters just like any other Ghanaian.

I will try and be brief for your time sake though I have a lot to say.

It is said by our fathers that if you want to tell God something, just say it into the air and that is why I am writing you this open letter all the way from Peki. I would have loved to address the parliament about my concerns but who is a poor police lance corporal like me to be taken serious so I have resolved to write to you against all odds.

I have studied you from afar and realized you have soft ear which makes you listen a lot. I want to quickly draw your attention to the recent killings in the police by armed robbers whilst the state looks on with no interest or questioning. Because we have almost been reduce to slaves in the police; many police officers fear to say it for fear of being sacked but I have decided to write to you not as a hero or the only courageous one among the police, but a humble officer who fears for his own life and that of others.

Not that I fear to die because I took oath to put my life on line for others, but must we be killed every day because we took oath to protect lives and properties? I think the perfect answer to my rhetorical question is no. We have reached a breaking point where continued silence will do us no good than to talk even though we risk losing our jobs as police officers.

We must stay alive to serve God and country. The almost every day killings of police must stop Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the life of a police officer is a difficult one, particularly that of a junior officer; he does all the "dirty jobs" in the police with little or no appreciation at all, but the rate at which almost every single day a police officer loses his life whilst performing his constitutionally mandated duties is a serious threat to security that must be looked into.

Mr. Speaker, you will agree with me that dead police officers do not protect lives and properties or maintain law and order as mandated by our constitution but rather only living officers do. I am not to remind the parliament and families of the late Hon. J.B Danquah about their loss but when the honourable member died, there were uproars among members of parliament that they should be given a police guard. That should tell you how the life of a parliamentarian matters as well as that of a police officer but surprisingly enough, the police are being killed every day in the course of discharging their statutory duties whilst our august parliament looks on.

I have not heard any member of parliament raising it on the floor parliament about the increasing rate at which the police are dying. I do not know whether is being discussed at committee level too but whatever it is, we must all bear in mind that the police officer is not an Island on its own but a subset of society. The death of a single police officer is a lost to his country and chains of family members and friends who depends on him on for survival.

The continued silence of our parliament and honourable members who recently cried out aloud that they needed police guard really runs shivers in my spine which leaves me with many questions. I always ask whether the police officer is also a Ghanaian whose life matters?

Mr. Speaker, it is increasingly becoming dangerous to live a life as a police officer. I admit that with a security service like the police, there is always some level of casualties but in other jurisdictions, there is constant and maintained working pro-active strategies to reduce the casualty levels in the police but in our case, it has become a saturated situation.

The life of a police officer is traded for nothing. He dies whilst fighting robbery or performing statutory duties only for his wife and children to be neglected by the state. No police officer dies for himself Mr Speaker. He always dies whilst saving somebody only to be paid back with a neglect of family by the state after his demise.

The police is increasingly becoming an avenue for waste of lives because of new forms of threat and risks that keep emerging, but the same country we are serving looks on with no interest. Mind you Mr. Speaker -that the life of a police officer is not a renewable resource that can be replaced after loss. Once it is wasted, it is wasted forever so the earlier something is done to protect the police, the better it is for us all as country and people. In order for the police to protect the state, the state must first protect the police.

Mr. Speaker I will like to end here with a passionate appeal. Even if you will look as we die in turns like prisoners on death roll, do something for the families we leave behind. If nothing at all, our C.I 76 (Police Service Regulations 2012) should be implemented fully. Our welfare lies in it.

Currently the only functional aspect of the C.I 76 is the punitive aspects, but areas that deals with the welfare of the ordinary police is largely ignored. Like I said, I will end here for today. I will certainly write you again whether I am still in the police or not, but until then, Mr Speaker, our lives matter too.

My greetings to all honourable members. Kindly let them know that our lives matter too just like them.

Yours sincerely

G/L/Cpl Daniel Kwofie