Ghana police stranded in Kosovo

Intelligence signals which the Daily Guide says it monitored indicate that a Ghanaian contingent of Policemen and women sent on a United Nation (UN) Peace-Keeping mission in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, are currently stranded.

The contingent made up of a 31-member Police Force, was dispatched by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ernest Owusu Poku, to go and begin UN civilian-Police duties in the former Yugoslavia Republic in August this year.

The police detachment, led by Superintendent Thomas Osei, arrived in Kosovo on August 13, 2001 and were checked into a UN Transit Hotel, according to the papers’ sources.

The Sources said when the Ghanaian Police contingent set down to work, they were prevented from doing so on the basis that they were wielding outmoded pistols that were not in tune with UN standards. It was found out, after investigations that the pistols were 1945 Second World War specifications.

An SOS message was said to have been sent to the IGP in Ghana to rectify the situation, but he in a faxed reply intimated that the government was hard up with cash and could therefore not immediately send a courier with the required items, suggesting rather that each member of the contingent pay US$100 out of their per diem or allowances to enable the guns to be sent to them.

The Guide says another 31 pistols and ammunitions was dispatched to the contingent but to their horror and consternation, the UN team took to laughter when they saw the pistols, indicating that the pistols are reminiscent of the 1945 Second World War pistols.

“They were not only disfashionable, but they were also rusty with wooden butts, long phased out of modern weaponry and warfare. They were subsequently rejected,” states the Guide.

The woes of the contingent were further compounded when they were made to lose between 30 to 50 Deutsch Marks (DM) as payment for their hotel bills at their UN Transit Hotel in Pristina.

The contingent reportedly, live on a daily diet of hamburgers and water at present, as their meagre resource are quickly running out. "Our men and women are frustrated", said the paper’s source.