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In the euphoria that greeted the replacement of Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr. George Dampare, a segment of the Ghana Police Service, who seemed to be unfortunate dissidents within the Service, openly eulogised the new IGP, Christian Tetteh Yohuno.
COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno is reported to have served more than 40 years in the Ghana Police Service, and is loved by the rank and file of the officers and men within the Service.
His appointment followed a legislature-engineered probe into disquiet within the Police Service that some top officers, including Commissioners, took advantage of, to launch ‘coups d’état’ against the IGP. It also followed a top NPP official’s leaked audio, highlighting the internal wrangling within the space.
As The Inquirer does this piece, a couple of civil society groups are in court, petitioning against the decision to remove the IGP who pleads he still has enough energy and pace to serve his country till he reaches the statutory retiring age.
But that, in the opinion of The Inquirer, is a fight and diplomatic mission only he can initiate.
Our concern is also not with regard to the euphoria in a security set-up where law and order ought to reign than a party spirit and factional fighting or, for that matter, a divide-and-rule spectre that would be assailing the Ghana Police Service only months after the December 07, presidential and parliamentary elections.
Our angst has to do with the act of euphoria has to do with agents of law and order and policemen and women spreading cash into the air and walking on them whether consciously or unconsciously.
Again, while spreading the cash may not necessarily be illicit in itself, the involuntary act of people walking on the cash and it being defaced as a result constitutes an act of lawlessness.
Defaced currency must be replaced under the law. However, as citizens may appreciate, it comes with cost.
That cost is heavy by our calculation and for an economy needing basic things, including CHIPS Compound and basic schools in communities across the country where we have ‘Schools under Trees.’
We are reliably informed that replacement of a currency or printing order by governments may cost one-half percent of the sum ordered. Again, that’s pretty expensive for a nation like Ghana.
It is against that background that The Inquirer condemns the act. But we believe we are also doing so responsibly by drawing the attention of our men and women and officers and men of the Ghana Police Service to the illicit act.
Unfortunately, it is not only the Police who have been complicit in engaging in that ritual during joyous occasions, including weddings and church harvests as well as funerals and naming ceremonies, among several other events.
The Police could have done better expressing themselves in quiet within the Police barracks across the country.
What they did in public and onto social media, in our opinion, is unprofessional, and sets a bad example for ordinary citizens, if not the distinguished public sector. And we don’t believe it should happen again.
There must be, in our opinion, a decent way of enjoying ourselves, without defacing our currency.
