Parliament Bares Teeth at ‘Battering Cop’

Parliamentarians have described as shameful and inhumane, the battering of Ms. Patience Osafo by a Police officer at the Midland Savings and Loans Ltd, and called for serious disciplinary action against him.

Virtually pouring their anger on the Officer, members called for one action or the other, and suggested ways of averting any future occurrences.

The Member of Parliament for Pusiga, Hajia-Ayishetu Laadi Ayamba, told the House that the action of the Officer was shameful, and that he must not be made to go free. She blamed the Ghana Police Service for the possible lack of due diligence in the recruitment process into the service, and advised that the service takes its personnel through in-service training and serious monitoring. The MP again demanded that the bank should also be sanctioned.

Adwoa Safo, Deputy Majority Leader of the House, condemned the act and called for justice for the victim. She disclosed that most lady lawyers in Parliament were ready to help the victim get justice, and assured Ghanaians that the female caucus of the House would see to the conclusive end to the matter.

Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader of the House and Member for Tamale South, on his part, said the action by the officer amounted to an unjustified assault and Police misconduct.

He, however, pleaded that the incident is not generalized to mean that it is the general behavior of all Police Officers. He said the action of the officer was in breach of Article 15 of the 1992 Constitution.

Cynthia Morrison, Member for the Agona West constituency, expressed serious worries about the conduct of the Police in recent times, and lamented that, “if the people paid by the tax payer to ensure their safety rather assaults them, it signals a bleak future for security in Ghana.

She called on the recruiting agencies of the Police Service to review the recruitment and training processes to help forestall some of these occurrences.

Dela Adwoa Sowah, Member for Kpando constituency, on her part, said she had never been that traumatized in her lifetime, after watching the video. She said she had not been able to have sound sleep after watching the video and disclosed that the scenes had kept playing in her memory.

She called on the Gender Minister to take steps to register the epileptic daughter of the victim onto the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program since she was vulnerable.

Ras Mubarak, Member for Kumbungu constituency, suggested that the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) should step up on moral education issues in the country’s educational curriculum.

It would be recalled that, a video circulating on social media over the past week showed a police officer on guard duty at Midlands Savings and Loans beating up a woman who was holding a baby. This comes at a time the police are under immense scrutiny following the allegations of police brutality from the Zongo community in Kumasi after seven men, suspected to be robbers, were killed by police.

By: Frederick E. Aggrey