Retired Military/Police Personnel Must Not Go Home With Uniforms, Accoutrements

There have been several reports in the Ghanaian media, which suggest that a number of items being used by armed robbers on their robbery spree, including military/police uniforms, boots, guns, blankets, ID cards, and knives among other accoutrements were obtained from ex-military/police personnel.

In one such report, the suspected armed robber told the police that the pistol he was carrying for the operation belonged to his late father, who was an ex-serviceman (military).

The praxis will not come to an end until the President, who is the Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, and all other stakeholders come together to find a solution that will make it a thing of the past.

The Chronicle does not know how military/police personnel who proceed on retirement are seen off - whether they are allowed to go home with their uniforms, guns and other accoutrements.

However, whether the law allows them to go home with their uniforms, pistols and other jiggers, the habitude must stop, as it has the potential to undermine the security of this country.

We are, therefore, suggesting to the government to take immediate steps must to ensure that before military/police personnel - junior or senior - proceed on retirement, he or she must be made to return all the above-mentioned accoutrements.

This is because, whether they have good intentions or not, one cannot predict what the future holds for such people, especially when they go wayward after serving their terms of office.

This will prevent such officers from giving out their uniforms and guns, among other accoutrements, on rent to other people who may use it for negative activities, which will end up putting the lives of the Ghanaian populace in danger.

On the other hand, these officers may not give out their things to dangerous men and women to be used for robbery purposes. They may, however, die and leave those things behind, which will then fall into the hands of dangerous people, or their surviving relatives may decide to use them for adventure, either for themselves or to aid the operations of others.

It is against this backdrop that The Chronicle is calling on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to task his security experts to get to the drawing board to find out how best this issue could be carried out.

The paper is reiterating its earlier call that military/police personnel going on retirement must not be allowed to take home any of the things they used while at post, such as uniforms, guns, knives, blankets and any other accoutrements.

And in the event where the government requires their services, they can be recalled, and in that case re-equipped or retooled, to enable them deliver on their mandate to the benefit of Mother Ghana.

Such patriots who had given their lives to protect our people in the past may not have bad intentions, but as the saying goes, "The devil finds work for idle hands," which could compel them to 'use what they have to get what they want', pure and simple!

Reports have it that in recent times, armed robbers in the country wield dangerous weapons such as G3 and AK-7 assault rifles among others when they embark on their robbery operations - the reason why they have grown over-confident, and are able to exchange gun-shots with armed police officers.

In our opinion, the time has come for Ghana, as a country, to look at its security policies, in order to address such issues that have the potential of derailing its forward march.

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