Inthe last one month assailants, without provocation, have opened fire on police personnel of the Ghana Police Service, killing five of them in the process.
The latest is the killing of two officials of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service with the Kasoa Command, Sergeant Michael Gyamasi and Lance Corporal Mohammed Awal.
The two deceased were said to be doing their lawfully mandated work when the assailants, three of whom have since been arrested, opened fire on the service men killing them on the spot.
Before that, the late Sergeant Agartha Nana Nabin and Corporal Bernard Antwi, were shot dead in Tamale and Manso Abodom, in the Amansie District of the Ashanti region, respectively.
The fifth officer, Lance Corporal Alhassan Asare was also found dead with wounds at the Akyem Swedru in the Eastern Region.
The Ghanaian Times condemn these attacks in no uncertain terms and call on all and sundry to rise up against this trend which is a threat to national security and does not augur well for police civilian relationship.
These attacks are barbaric, dastardly and a demonstration of cowardice by these uncouth assailants who have decided to take the lives of people clothed with the authority of the state to protect all of us.
Police officers across the country go out of their way, sacrifice the time they should have been with their families and social lives to protect us at the peril of their lives when we are asleep in the night with our loved ones.
If we cannot appreciate their contributions to the peace and security of our country we also do not have the right to take their lives.
This is unacceptable, inhumane and against the national security interest of our great country.
It is for this reason that we fully support the decision by the decision by the Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, directing the Acting Inspector General of Police, James Oppong-Boanuh, to arm officers who are on traffic duty; which neither to was not the case.
The Director-General of Police Public Affairs, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) David Senanu Eklu, also told the Ghanaian Times in an interview, yesterday, that the service was on “high alert” and would not countenance any rogue element of the public who tries to attack the personnel.
With the order for the police to arm its MTTD officials and indication that the service was on high alert, we urge caution on our roads because the officers in that department mostly come into contact with road users.
We call on the police to ‘hold their fire’ but be vigilant to avoid any more deaths and urge the public to volunteer information which would lead to the arrest of all those who in one way or the other have a hand in killing the five officers and all those who lost their lives in the past.
We once again condemn these killings! Swift actions must be taken to bring the culprits to book.