‘Stop the interference’

The Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Angwubutoge Awuni, says interference in the work of MTTU personnel by some well-informed people is the major problem facing the Unit.

According to him, the conduct of some politicians, chiefs and senior police officers make the young constables uncomfortable occasionally.

“The moment we effect arrest, we will receive telephone calls from people who should know better. They think because their men are involved the law must not be applied,” he added.

He therefore called on personnel of the MTTU to boldly resist people who demand the release of offenders of the law or attempt to interfere in their work.

ACP Awuni disclosed this to journalists in Sekondi after interacting with personnel of the MTTU in the Western Region yesterday.

The interaction was aimed at reminding personnel of the Unit of their duties, particularly as Christmas approaches, among other things.

He wondered why some people still perceive personnel of the MTTU to be corrupt and stressed that certain measures would soon be introduced to combat the alleged corrupt practices by MTTU personnel.

ACP Awuni mentioned that the introduction new reflector jackets would help deal with the perceived corruption.

He explained that the new jackets would have the names and numbers of the MTTU personnel printed at the back, adding “so if you go out there and collect money people will see your name and number and report to the police”.

When the personnel of Ghana Police travel outside for certain duties, they are described as the best in Africa so I don’t know why in Ghana we are branded as corrupt?”

The Western Regional MTTU, DSP Thomas Bayor revealed that his men had been conducting road safety checks and various educational programmes for drivers in the area as part of measures to curb accidents in the region.

“In the process, 168 private and 58 commercial vehicles, as well as 32 trade licensed vehicles were arrested for various offences.”