Police accused of extortion on Kumasi-T'di Road

Commercial drivers plying the Kumasi-Cape Coast-Takoradi route have accused the police of extorting money excessively from them at the various barriers dotted along the road, especially that of Hweremoase near the Obuasi junction in Ashanti Region without any justifiable cause.

According to the drivers who spoke to The Chronicle in Takoradi last week Friday, police at the Hweremoase barrier have allegedly been extorting between ?100,000 and ?200,000 from them for failing to show their income tax certificate to them.

The drivers told this reporter that their vehicles are always impounded if they dared challenge the basis for such amounts being taken from them without any accompanying receipt.

The drivers said to the best of their knowledge income tax is checked by a combined team of Internal Revenue Service staff and the police, but they are always harassed on this particular route by the police alone, who ended up extorting huge sums of money from them.

"At this Hweremoase barrier the first thing the police will ask you is your income tax, they do not bother to ask about other documents which should have been asked by them", one of the drivers said.

The drivers also wondered why the police have still been manning barriers in both Central and Ashanti regions and unduly harassing drivers, especially those driving commercial vehicles when the Ministry of Interior had given an order that barriers should be manned by the police after 6 p.m.

According to them police in the Western Region have vacated both the Apramdo barrier and that of Inchaban and that they are only seen at these barriers after 6 p.m.

The drivers noted that if the police in the Western Region have complied with the ministry of interior order, then they did not understand why those in Ashanti and Central regions have refused to comply with the order. According to them apart from the Apramdo and Inchaban barriers in the Western Region, the rest of the barriers dotted along the route are being manned by the police, who always preyed on the commercial drivers.

The drivers told The Chronicle that they were not against the police ensuring law and order on the various roads in the country, but it seemed to them that those who are posted to man these barriers have different agenda against drivers, which they are not happy with and called on the leadership of the police service to bring their men to order.

A source contacted at the Ashanti regional police public relations unit via telephone in Kumasi told this reporter that no police officer had been ordered to extort money from drivers at the barriers and therefore called on the drivers to be bold and report police officers who extort money from them to either the PRO unit or the regional command for investigations and action.

The source however cautioned drivers to always travel with valid documents. The source said whereas he was not siding with his colleagues, it was an undeniable fact that many drivers who do not have papers try to influence the police with money when they are caught, reminding them that both the giver and the receiver of bribes are guilty before the law.

On why the police in Ashanti region are stillmanning the barriers despite the directive from the ministry of interior, the source said depending on the situation the police could move in anytime of the day to man the barriers or a particular barrier, if they had information that a criminal activity was going on somewhere.