The Police service and the Armed Forces are two great security services that are very indispensable to the other when it comes to constitutional functions of maintaining law and as well as defence. The police particularly cannot carry out it constitutionally mandated duties maintaining law and order per the dictates of article 200(3) without the support from our comrades in the military especially in these times that crime combat is becoming more sophisticated and dangerous. We need them and they also need us all in the interest of mother Ghana who is bigger than both and police and the military as well as any other security service.
Constitutionally, it is expected that the Armed Forces which comprises the Army, the Navy and the Air Force are to be equipped and maintained to perform the role of defence of Ghana as well as such other functions for the development of Ghana as the president may determine. The Armed Forces is crucial in our interest as Ghanaian people thus the very reasons why at times we see joint patrols of the police and military. Their contributions to the nation’s development can never be quantified in any economic term and so is the police.
In making Ghana peaceful, stable and prosperous, the constitutional mandate given to these two security institutions as well as all other security institutions complement one another and for that matter every steps must be taken by the heads of these security institutions to ensure that there is a maintained cordiality among them. Frictions in the police and military relations can result in crisis if we do not take the pragmatic measures to resolve them once and for all.
The peace and stability Ghanaians are enjoying today is borne out by roles played by both the military and the police since Ghana became a sovereign nation. Both the military and the police have been involved in unlawful and unjustifiable force unleashed on Ghanaians during the revolutionary days and also attacked each other at times but in these times, there is new dispensation so we should always try to avoid those needles attacks which has potency to put into crisis someday. The idea of 1966 coup was in fact, believed to have have been hatched by Hailey the then IGP in Kwame Nkrumah’s government and executed by the military with Emmanuel Kotoka spearheading it.
Successive military takeovers received endorsement and participation from the police though the military ends up claiming glories of all the rights and wrongs that came with the coups. Whatever that happened in times past, all happened to shape the future of this country and the end result is the peace and stability we are all enjoying today. People sacrificed their lives this hence the reasons why the police and military in particular should guard the peace and stability we are enjoying as country and people jealously than launching attacks on themselves.
People from all diverse of life sacrificed their lives to make this country Ghana as it is today. Those that were justifiably and unjustifiably killed by both the police and military should be counted as part of people whose blood were poured to make our motherland Ghana great and strong together with the blessings of God Almighty.
We should not forget our forebearers in both the police and military as well as members of other security institutions who sacrificed their lives in line of duties and for that matter took the lead to the land of the dead before their time. We should never forget and disappoints them particularly we the younger generation of soldiers and police officers who seem to carry the a pride bigger than Ghana. Many have walked where we are walking now and for some, no one knows they even existed because time has gathered heaps of dust on them. They are forgotten but their efforts remain whether recognised or not. They must all be appreciated.
There is a new Ghana going forward under a new dispensation called democracy which comes with it own orientations. In as much as we would want to maintain certain standards and status quo in the police and military, they will be challenged by upcoming generations especially if they are inconsistent with the provisions in the constitution and for that matter the police and military should be abreast with developments and effects of democracy in order not to unjustifiably assault civilians and let alone assaulting fellow security officer as it happened in Kwesimintsim.
Whether a police officer or soldier, we should be mindful enough that we are not the first to wear the police or the military uniforms. People have worn it before us and left and so shall we. In as much as we should be proud of our respective security services that we individually belong to, we should remember that at all times we are working for mother Ghana and not for ourselves. Anything that is not in the interest of mother Ghana in the course of discharging our duties is a slap in the face of democracy and the rule of law and that is why we must condemned what happened at Kwesimintsim in no uncertain terms. We should find more proactive ways and means to resolve this issue so that we will have precedent to deter others in the future.
We the current crop of police officers and our compatriots in the military should know that we carrying on what others sacrificed their lives for and bequeath to us to also pass it on to others who will take the baton from us so that we can sit back someday to see a better Police Service, Armed Forces as well as other security services.
The police and the military are Siamese twins and any attempt to separate them can be fatal.
Let us still call for justice for Kwesimintsim police by prosecuting those who soldiers who criminally assaulted our compatriots. It’s assault on us all.
Merry Christmas in advance to all gallant soldiers and police as well our comrades in other security services.
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