MTTD officer exposed; caught on camera enforcing ‘cash collection’, not law
When greed overrides professionalism, corruption becomes the byproduct.
Such is the case of a Police Officer at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Nima Divisional Police Command.
Alhaji, as he is referred to by a number of drivers, is often stationed at the Kwame Nkrumah interchange area to ensure the free flow of traffic.
The Police Officer who was posted to the Nima police station more than five years ago has been a regular traffic warden at the traffic light close to the ebony shop at circle.
However, evidence available to theghanareport.com appears to suggest directing traffic and or ensuring free vehicular movement may not be the priority of the officer.
The officer expected to be in charge of law enforcement has been caught on camera ‘extorting’ monies from a number of drivers who ply the route. The ebony traffic light area is not a designated place for commercial vehicles to stop, load and offload passengers.
But in a footage exclusively available to theghanareport.com, the Police Officer is seen taking monies and allowing these commercial drivers to flout the law with impunity.
Commercial vehicles with a loading capacity of twelve passengers allegedly pay Five Ghana cedis( GHS5) while Sprinter buses are ‘levied’ ten Ghana cedis (GHS10).
This is the case for commercial vehicles who wish to ‘load’ passengers at the exact prohibited spot.
Drivers who refuse to pay the monies are reportedly ‘chased away’ from the spot and prevented from either dropping or taking on new passengers. The Police Officer is said to, in some instances, assault some drivers who refuse to pay the said monies.
He is said to have mangled the booths of several vehicles with his motor helmet.
The Ghana Report has been monitoring the activities of the said MTTD officer for two years and can confirm that the practice is a constant feature in his day-to-day activities.
His modus operandi is to deploy an errand boy to do the collection of his ‘levies’ on these commercial drivers.
A secret filming at the scene captured the errand boy embarking on his usual routine collecting money from drivers who had queued for passengers at the unauthorized area. The monies were later handed over to the uniformed officer.
Conversations with a number of commercial drivers confirmed the investigations by The Ghana Report.
Other drivers who found the practice as unacceptable, unprofessional and a clear case of abuse of power told The Ghana Report they will resist any attempt by the Police Officer to extort monies from them.
Commenting on the development, Security analyst, Saani Adib described the practice as unfortunate and one which could compromise the security of the country.
The onus however lies with the police administration to investigate their own and proffer the necessary sanctions.
Watch below a secret recording of the alleged acts of the Police Officer
Sadly, this is not an unusual event at all. Police officers of all ilks are extorting money from drivers rather then doing their designated jobs.
Just this very day my driver was stopped in Awutu Breku this morning by MTTD officers who pointed out that the roadworthy was out of date. For this unfortunate oversight he was told he must pay GHC30 for the release of the vehicle. As he had no money with him he was obliged to report this incident to me. I reluctantly agreed to fund him the 30 cedis and instructed him to firstly go to Winneba to renew the roadworthy then to the MTTD officer to pay the ‘penalty’ and gain release of the vehicle. Upon approaching the officer he was told that the ‘penalty’ had now increased to 60 cedis. Again, he had insufficient funds so was obliged to bother me for an additional 30 cedis. To cut a long story a bit shorter, upon again seeing the MTTD officer he was told the ‘penalty’ had now increased to 100cedis!! This is extortion of the highest order and I trust the Ghana police service will investigate.