OUR CRIME PROBLEMS

MEDICAL doctors at public hospitals in the Volta Region are said to have threatened to seek mass transfer from the region, citing insecurity and increased threats to their lives and property as the reasons.
According to reports, their threats follow mayhem visited on five doctors in the region in five separate incidents within one month. In one particular incident, one of the doctors was said to have been called at midnight to attend to an emergency but while he was operating on the pregnant woman, another ‘operation’ was taking place in his home, which led to the theft of two laptops that contained very valuable medical and personal data and other belongings. But what has really traumatised them is an attempt to kidnap a nurse who works at the Volta Regional Hospital in Ho.
Looked at from any angle, this is a very worrying situation and the Daily Graphic deeply sympathises with the doctors for the ordeal they have been through in the discharge of their duties, especially in the past one month. But horrifying as the whole affair seems to be, we do not subscribe to the idea of a mass transfer, as is being threatened by the doctors. We think issues of this nature need to handled with a lot of tact and diplomacy and we do not think this is beyond the capabilities of the Volta Regional Security Council (VRCC).
Indeed, the Daily Graphic is happy to learn that the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Office of the Regional Security Co-ordinator are not taking the issue lightly. Not only have steps been taken to get to the bottom of the matter but also measures have been put in place to forestall any further attacks on the doctors.
Having said so, we wish to emphasise that although doctors in the Volta Region may have a peculiar case, the rising spate of robberies nation-wide is becoming rather alarming and damaging and the security personnel would have to redouble their efforts to fight the menace.
Indeed, what has come to be known as ‘contract killing’ is becoming the order of the day. It happened in Kumasi with the killing of Samuel Ennin, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA). Then it moved to Tema with the gunning down of Roko Frimpong and Quartey in separate incidents. As if all those dastardly acts were not enough, the nation was again rocked only last week with the shocking murder of two lovers — Awal Osumanu and Irene Emefa Agbemenyo — at Gbawe, an Accra suburb.
We know our security services have serious challenges — challenges that border on logistics, as well as human resource. But the absence of sufficient policing should be no excuse in the bid to rid society of the undesirables.
We cannot allow the peace and freedom of majority of law-abiding Ghanaians to be trampled upon by the murderous acts of a few reckless and irresponsible people. This is the time to stand up and be counted. And we know our men and women in uniform will rise up to the occasion.
The Daily Graphic also wishes to advise the public to volunteer information that will help the police to effectively deal with crime. We should all recognise that the police need the support of the public to execute their duties to perfection. We must not succumb to the crime wave and that is why we all need to be vigilant and contribute effectively towards making our society very peaceful.