THE CRIMINALS WITHIN THE POLICE FORCE

There is discrimination in the police force worldwide.



The police are a law enforcement force responsible for keeping public order. Their activities include the apprehension of those who don’t want to abide by the law. 


As a matter of fact, citizens of every nation depend on the police for protection and the guarantee of a safe and crime-free neighborhood. In the pursuit of peace and the fight against crime, the police sometimes meet their untimely death.

In Africa, especially in Nigeria, hundreds of police officers have been killed by armed robbers and thieves. Ghana was once a peaceful country, although petty crimes are reported daily, but not armed robbery. 

But now armed robbery has been exported to Ghana by Nigerians, and this has given employment to hardened criminals in Ghana. For example, every Nigerian armed robbery gang arrested in Ghana has a Ghanaian accomplice.

Some of the arrested armed robbers have police uniforms. No one is accusing the police of selling their uniforms to armed gangs, but the question is, “How do armed robbers get police uniforms?” 

It takes a million people and precious time to build a good reputation, but it takes less than a second for one person to destroy all the good work that has been built. 

In fact, the head of the Ghana police force has a greater deal of responsibility on his shoulders to eliminate all those criminals in uniform within the police force. There are a lot of corrupt officers within the police force.

It is a very serious matter that something must be done. Some officers in the police force are tarnishing the image of the force because they joined it not to protect citizens against crime but to wear the uniform to make money through robbery and other illegal means. 

On Tuesday, August 7, 2007, the Daily Graphic carried front-page news about three arrested police officers for allegedly taking $24,000 from a suspected cocaine dealer. 

According to the story, the three men from the Mobile Force Unit of the Ghana Police Service have been placed in custody. This is a very serious matter and a disgrace to the Ghana police force. How could police officers commit such a crime?

This is not the first time a story involving the police in criminal activities has appeared in the daily papers. Another question that needs an answer is, “Why do police officers indulge in criminal activities? 

Is it poverty, or are they underpaid? It is a fact that the job of the police is a very frustrating one, one that unfortunately many people don’t respect, but that doesn’t mean they have to turn against people they have to protect. 

Some people think that giving the police full discretion and freedom from legal actions would help. That is not true. According to investigations, taking away accountability will make the police worse than criminals. 

It is, therefore, a good part of the Ghana police force to let any member who broke the law pay for his crime, as they are presently doing. Most Ghanaians have lost total confidence in the police for many reasons.

For example, the police are nowhere to be found when a crime is going on, and when they are called, they come when the crime has already taken place. In advanced countries, it is a big success for the police when criminals leave behind any evidence during an operation. 

Because the retrieved object during investigations could lead to the arrest of the criminals by means of forensic, DNA, or fingerprint tests. But in Africa, criminals are never apprehended when they leave behind an exhibit. 

Many people refrain from reporting to the police their problems because some have to extort money from the victim before investigating their case or making an arrest. These are some of the issues that need proper attention.

To prevent crime in society, people should give respect to the police and work with them. The lack of respect for the police prevents them from fully serving a community. This is very common in Europe, where a lot of foreigners are living. 

Due to racism, there is an indifference to police service where immigrants are. One thing individuals must understand is that the police cannot be everywhere at once to apprehend a thief or fight against an armed robber. 

As long as there are human beings, crime could occur. Therefore, in order to help the police to prevent crime, people should look out for each other and always inform the police immediately when they see someone acting suspiciously.

Making Bicycle A Safe Means Of Transport In Africa

A sea of bicycles in Amsterdam

The Oxford dictionary defines “vehicle” as a conveyance for transporting passengers or goods on land or in space. In this case, besides a car, lorry, train, airplane, a bicycle is also accepted as a means of transport to apply on the road.


That means a cyclist has the right to use the road without any horn hooting or harassment of the rider by other road users. An integrated transport policy is not viable without the implementation of structures allowing the development of cycling.

There are many reasons the bicycle is essential and important to users. The bicycle enables one to get somewhere very fast when there is a traffic hold-up. It is energizing to use a bicycle, and it eliminates stress. 

Among all transports, it is the cheapest, as you don’t need fuel, and no license is required. Ecologically, the manufacturing and use of a bicycle, as well as the planning of space for its use, create much less solid waste and no pollution.

In Ghana, the bicycle plays a major role as a means of transport in the North for farmers who have no other means of getting to their farms and home. But at the moment, bicycles are fast emerging as an urban means of transport. 

Transportation is a problem in most big cities. It is therefore not a crime for a cyclist to get to work or wherever he intends to go on a bicycle. 

But on the road, some road users think the cyclist has no right at all to be on the street. They torment cyclists with the blaring of horns and even scream at them at times.

Actually, it is very frustrating to most drivers when a cyclist is ahead of them or at any inconvenient place along the road. Bicycles can cause traffic on a busy road. 

Some cyclists have contributed to road accidents many times. But that doesn’t mean that they have no right to use the road; after all, motorists are also involved in road accidents. 

Walking through the city of Accra, there is nowhere one can find a bicycle route by the side of the major roads. For example, the Accra – Kasoa road is a very good level constructed road, but it was constructed without any bicycle lane.

In Europe, a cycling plan aiming to develop cycling was approved in the ’80s. Revised annually, it considers the implementation of a network of cycle lanes and the transformation of parking places into bicycle parking. 

This network is built in order to reinforce the safety for cyclists, with stop signposts placed before those for cars, and crossroads redesigned for cyclists. 

In Ghana, roads are constructed without any consideration for bicycle users. Nothing is planned in the country by taking the future into consideration.

I believe that if the government implements the construction of bicycle routes in its future projects, there will be a free flow of traffic in the cities, and that would also help to reduce the traffic holdups that motorists are currently facing.

It’s a well-known fact that a lack of finance is one of the major setbacks affecting Africa’s infrastructure and projects. But if a specific project would be a solution or an answer to a problem, then the government should take it into consideration. 

For example, in Europe, to prevent traffic jams and ensure the safety of cyclists, the Netherlands has been successful with bicycle routes running throughout the towns and cities. A journey of about 50 to 100 km could easily be done by bicycle. 

In Trondheim-Norway, a bicycle lift has been put up in the center of the town to facilitate access to another town called Brubakken, and in Belgium, a bicycle tunnel has been built under the sea to link the two cities of Antwerp and Linkeroever. 

It takes ten to twelve minutes to go to Linkeroever from the city of Antwerp, while the bus takes about twenty minutes.

As Ghana gradually matures into a great nation, the government must include the construction of bicycle routes in its future road projects. Bicycle plays a very significant role, not only as a means of transport but also in promoting good health.

The saga of waste disposal and poor drainage system in Africa

An open rubbish ground in Nairobi, Kenya

The disposal of household waste worldwide is a problem that continues to increase with the development of industrialized nations and the growth of the population. 


Poor waste disposal not only breeds mosquitoes in tropical countries but could also cause an epidemic of widespread disease. After colonialism, most African countries were left in a very poor state, especially in terms of their methods of waste disposal and drainage systems.

The question is, if the Europeans are technically advanced in building underground drainage systems and there is no gutter found in any part of Europe or America, why did they fail to execute such projects in Africa during colonialism? 

Visiting Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, I saw one common thing: choked gutters. 

The gutters are filled with rubbish and debris, thereby causing an impediment to the movement of water during rainfall. Many countries in Africa experience drought during the dry season, and when it rains, many times there are often more floods because of the poor drainage system.

The most dangerous of all is within Accra Central. Opened concrete slabs: after the evacuation of refuse from gutters, they are left uncovered, thereby causing more hazards to pedestrians. 

I’m wondering how many people have been injured or broken a foot by accidentally falling into these gutters, while those responsible are left free to answer queries and charges for negligence, or even to compensate the victim.

The primary aim of any government is to promote good health for the citizens of the country. Maintaining good health in Third World countries could be very expensive, but one of the best ways to reduce health costs is to maintain a proper waste disposal system. 

Mosquitoes are commonly seen in Europe during the hot period in summer, but surprisingly, they do not carry any disease like malaria. Doctors don’t agree with Africans when they complain of malaria because there is no place for mosquitoes to breed such sickness in Europe.

Waste can be divided into many different types. The most common methods of classification are by their physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. 

Federal regulations classify waste into three categories. Non-hazardous materials are those that pose no immediate threat to human health and the environment. 

Household garbage is included in this category. Hazardous wastes are of two types. Those that have common characteristics, ignitability, or reactivity, and those that contain toxic components.

With the rapid increase in population, many methods of waste disposal came into existence, with landfill as the most common of all the methods. But this is the most cost-effective method of disposal. Refuse is also burned in incinerators. 

It is more expensive but a safer method of disposal than landfills. To avoid throwing away garbage indiscriminately, the government needs to come out with a scheme that would ensure the proper way of waste disposal to avoid floods due to the blockage of drainage systems within the country.

Refuse to recycle by sorting; it takes time, energy, labor, and money to make new products from recycled ones. 

Ghana is gradually climbing up from the slums of colonial infrastructure, but until it develops a modern method of improving its waste disposal and improving its drainage systems, please let’s help to keep the city clean. 

People found disposing of refuse and answering nature’s call indiscriminately must be arrested on the spot to pay a fine. These are some of the methods implemented by the European Parliament, and the plan has worked. 

Firstly, the cities are kept clean; secondly, the money goes into the government's coffers as a sort of tax-generating.