A patriot on the wanted list

By Kofi Akordor
THE customs officer was loud and boastful, his voice resonating with excitement as he proclaimed to his listeners that the identity of a certain man they had been looking for had finally been exposed, with his photograph being widely circulated so that at first sight he should be eliminated. As he was talking, he dashed to his car and brought out photo-copies of what looked like a newspaper publication with a photograph on it.
Those desperately looking for the man in question, according to the officer, included some members of staff of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
I got interested, for, after all, who would want to have a criminal or nation wrecker roaming about freely in the system? And who knows, I could also help in tracking down the criminal who was on the wanted list of our security agencies.
Curiosity drew me closer as I tried to see what was on the poster. That was when I had the rudest shock of my life. There was this screaming headline: “ANAS-AREMEYAW EXPOSED”.
“So this is the man being wanted by CEPS, the police and the immigration authorities?” I said to myself.
Under normal circumstances, only criminal gangs such as smugglers, drug barons, armed robbers, money launderers, counterfeit syndicates and corrupt politicians would see an inquisitive and investigative journalist as an enemy and possibly put him on their wanted list.
That was why I was shocked that some members (at least not all of them) of state institutions entrusted with the protection of the security and sanctity of the state would declare a journalist enemy number one for exposing evils against the state, the same evils officers in these organisations are paid to curb.
It is recalled that about two months ago, one of the television networks showed a documentary on the illicit dealings at the country’s borders which were recorded clandestinely. That documentary exposed some officials of CEPS and the GIS who connived with business people to smuggle cocoa out of the country.
Seriously, the documentary did not come as a shock to many. If anything, it established something which is well-known but has not been easy to prove. That was how Anas-Aremeyaw, the engineer of that documentary, came to be an enemy to these powerful state institutions.
It is an undeniable fact that a lot of dubious things happen at the border posts and other points of entry such as the harbours and the airport and the operators include a network of business people, border officials and people in political office. Whichever way you look at it, the state loses revenue.
Apart from the loss of revenue, the safety of the people and the security of the state are compromised. For instance, products that are not supposed to come into the country, such as contaminated or poorly manufactured goods, find their way onto the domestic market, just the same way as weapons and other dangerous substances find their way into the country with the criminal connivance of state security agencies.
We all know that the security and law enforcement agencies, like all other human institutions, cannot be without their fair share of deviants. But should they be so proud and arrogant as to declare a patriot a wanted person? It can only be explained that the rogues have become boastful because the rot, instead of being the exception, is virtually the norm and that has strengthened those who engage in criminal activities and bolstered them to walk with chests out, instead of bowing down their heads in shame.
There are many honest, hardworking and dedicated men and women in the various services who, against all odds, are doing their best, as required of them, in the national interest. Incidentally, most of them go unrecognised and when they finally exit from active service, they have nothing to show for it. Some even suffer persecution from those who are bent on indulging in criminal activities to enrich themselves overnight, at state expense.
Elsewhere, people like Anas-Aremeyaw would be cultivated and nurtured by the security agencies to make their work easier and more effective. The police have always been appealing for support in the form of information on criminal suspects. What happens if these informants rather become the criminals who must be hounded and cut down?
The GIS and CEPS are also institutions whose work could be significantly enhanced with information from members of the public. But that will be only when they themselves are determined to achieve results and not be part of the problem.
We do not know how many more patriots like Anas-Aremeyaw are on the wanted list of the law enforcement agencies, but the wanted notice in circulation only confirms the depth of the rot in our public institutions, which also means the security of the state itself cannot be guaranteed.

fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com