<<Print>>

US-based Ghanaian legal practitioner, Professor Kwaku Asare alias Prof Azar has expressed strong reservations about the investigation announced by the police into an allegation of extortion against officers of the Axim Police Command.

In a Facebook post sighted by GhanaWeb, Prof Azar likened the investigation to a porter of a team being asked to replace the head coach emphasising a likely disappointing outcome.

“Asking the police to investigate allegations of extortion by the police is like asking a porter to be a coach. Enkosi aga!” he wrote.

On Sunday, April 2, 2023, the Ghana Police Service in a statement said it has referred to the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) an allegation of extortion made in a video against the Axim Police during a standoff.

According to the police, it had also arrested four persons who were members of a gang seen in the video in a heated exchange with some police officers.

The police noted that the arrest followed a report by the Axim Divisional Police Command of an attack by the gang on some of its officers.

But reacting to a comment on his post in which he was asked to give the police a benefit of doubt in the outcome of the investigation, Prof Azar said it will be in the interest of justice for the case to be referred to a different body.

“It is well known just about everywhere in the world that the police go to great lengths to cover up crimes committed by their own. It’s the so called blue wall of silence or what the Kenyafuo courts call the blue code of silence.

“The fact that police investigations of the police have sometimes led to interdictions, demotions, and dismissals begs the questions of what else did those investigations not reveal.