No Police Can Arrest Me - Bukom Banku

It has become evident that Braimah Kamoko, World Professional Boxers Federation (WPBF) Light Heavyweight champion, popularly known as ‘Bukom Banku’, is above the law and the Ghana Police Service cannot call him to order though he has turned the residents of his James Town neighborhood into punching bags, which he uses for training.

After recent reports that the professional boxer had beaten to pulp one Mary Somo Amui, along with her two daughters and grandson, leaving them with various degrees of injury, he has dared the victims to go to wherever they want to go, and that he is not afraid of any Police Officer.

Our investigations revealed that true to his word, the James Town Police Station, where the victims lodged their complaint, after their ordeal, has shown no interest in bringing the WPBF Light Heavyweight champion to book.

Reports suggest Banku is apparently a pet child of the James Town Police and has become ‘untouchable’ in the area, though he has developed a habit of beating up residents.

Banku is alleged to have said: “Me, no policeman can arrest me. Even if a police man succeeds in doing that, Nii Lante (Vanderpuye) will release me.”

In a related development, Malik Jabir, also a boxer, has subjected a resident to some severe beatings in the James Town area, but was brought to book in no time, confirming allegations that Banku is in bed with the James Town Police Station.

One of Bukom Banku’s numerous victims, Mary, a resident in the James Town community, in narrating her ordeal, said her brother told her that a young lady (alleged girlfriend of Bukom Banku) had come to seek refuge in their house at about 2:00am because she was being chased by Bukom Banku.

She said her brother took the lady in and gave her a place to hide till daybreak.

Mary said when Bukom Banku got to know that his alleged girlfriend had come to seek refuge in their house, he stormed the place and insulted everybody there.

She said three days later, one of her grandsons, aged eight, who stayed with his mother at London Market, was slapped by Bukom Banku while he was playing with his colleagues.

“We did not take any ill feeling to his house, we just went to find out why he slapped the boy,” Mary said in her local Ga dialect.

She said when they got to Banku’s house and asked him why he had slapped the boy, the response he gave was that they should leave his presence.

“So I said he could not tell us to leave his presence without telling us why he slapped my grandson.

“Just then Bukom Banku punched my face and I fell to the ground. He gave another punch to the nose and mouth of my daughters who accompanied me.”

Mary noted that in their bid to report the incident to the James Town Police, Bukom Banku chased her with a truck and beat her up as well as the grandson she was carrying.

She stated, “He said he would lead me to the police station to report the case and that the police are his friends so they will not arrest him.”

“True to his word, when we got to the police station they gave us a report to go for medical treatment but did not arrest him,” Mary stated.

She added that after going to the hospital, the police asked for a doctor’s report which they provided but after collecting the report, nothing was done about the case.

She said efforts to get the police taskforce to arrest and bring Bukom Banku to book also failed, as the James Town Police called to say the case was with them.

“It has been almost two weeks since the incident happened and the police are not showing any sign of interest in our case,” she said.

When the paper made a call to Bukom Banku’s cell phone to get his reaction to the story, he said, “You can run the story because if I want to talk, it will be a long story.”