Police Brutality Vrs Human Rights (II)

Article 1(1) of the supreme law of Ghana, the 1992 Constitution has it that the sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in the constitution.

Dr Raymond Atuguba, a lecturer of Ghana law school, has rightly asserted that the primary purpose of policing is to enable the citizens to live in peace and security. According to him, there can be no effective policing unless policing is about the people, of the people and by the people. From the foregoing, police officers are therefore by virtue of their duties best placed not only to respect and protect human rights, but also to refrain from abusing such rights themselves.

In spite of the above, some police officers in the country are now and then trampling on the rights of the people they are supposed to protect. Barely some few weeks after it was reported that some police officers at Suhum have allegedly beaten Mr. George Atua to death, the menace is still on the increase.

RECENT ALLEGED REPORTS

The Ghanaweb General News of Wednesday, August 8, 2007 had it that some police in Kumasi were alleged to have beaten a basic school teacher to death in their attempt to evict residents of Buokrom, a suburb of the metropolis. Mr. Samuel Asamoah reportedly died a day after the police assaulted him for challenging the legality of the exercise. On Friday, August 17, 2007 Mr. Richard Kwaku Salu, a level 400 student of the University of Ghana, Legon was allegedly arrested, brutalised and thrown into the Achimota police cells for supposedly insulting President Kuffour. According to the report, Mr. Salu’s testicles were squeezed by an anonymous policewoman after his callous and sadistic beatings by the said police officers (see: The Insight Newspaper, Wednesday 22-Thurday 23, August, 2007. Front page).

ABERRANT CONDUCT

The above aberrant conduct by the police officers concerned is very untoward. It is a fact that fair trial should start from the very day a person accused of a crime is arrested through the period of investigation up to the time he is brought for trial. It ultimately ends when the court pronounces its judgment.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY

Article 15(2) of the 1992 Constitution states that no person shall, whether or not he is restricted or detained, be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from him his dignity and worth as a human being. By drawing inference, to strip someone naked, or leaving them with under wears, shaving the head clean or rough, sleeping in dirty cells with toilet pans in the cells, are some of the acts and conditions which detract from the dignity and worth of person as a human being, hence the very reason why Mr. Salu’s alleged maltreatment at the Achimota Police Station is very unthinkable. Worst of all, the so-called police brutality leading to the death of Mr. Samuel Asamoah in Kumasi is also very outrageous.

It must be strongly indicated that it does not lie in the mouth of the police to say who a criminal is; neither do they have the power to punish anybody for whatsoever reason. These functions are the exclusive duty of the courts establish under our constitution.

POLICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Police are the protectors of human rights, ensuring them for the population. They therefore occupy a position in society where abuse of human rights can take place readily if there are no systems of accountability. These systems must start with good training to build a culture of respect for human rights.

CONCLUSION

Police are to protect and promote the law, but not to profane it. Fellow Ghanaians, let us fight against the increasingly report of police brutalities in the country, who knows? You could be a victim tomorrow. Stay tune for more‼