No Politician Can Sack A Police Officer …Says MTTU Commander
From Isaac Akwetey-Okunor,Koforidua
The Commanding Officer (CO) of the National Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni has urged personnel of the Service, particularly MTTU officials to drastically deal with any politician or government official who breaks motor traffic laws.
According to the no nonsense police MTTU boss, the road traffic regulations were not made for certain group of people but rather all road users including government officials and politicians.
He explained that, most often some politicians and government officials were of the belief that they can sack Service personnel when challenged by the latter in the cause of irresponsible driving.
But ACP Awuni has served notice that any government or politician who is nursing such plans to sack any Service personnel because should revise his notes as the personnel will not intimidate.
“No politician or government official can sack any police officer, since we were not employed by them, I urge you not to compromise your professional ethics but rather apply the rules and treat everybody equally, notwithstanding the status of the person”, he urged his men.
“I am calling on all MTTU personnel through their various commanders not to slack in their enforcement mandate but rather ensure strict compliance of the road laws without fear or favour”, he further reiterated.
He made the declaration at personnel sensitization workshop held here in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital on the new Legislative Instrument (LI) 2180.
The workshop, which was under the theme “ Enhancing the Capacity of the MTTU to enforce the Contents of Road Traffic Regulations 2180 Towards the Reduction of Road Accidents in 2013” was attended by MTTU personnel from Eastern, Volta, Central and Greater Accra Regions.
The workshop which aimed at upgrading the skills of MTTU personnel on the new road traffic LI as well as empowering transport union executives and passengers to act as safety agents was organized by the National MTTU command and supported by the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
Addressing the gathering, ACP Awuni said the police regard the passengers as an important allied in the enforcement of the road law since passengers’ usually suffer the negative implications of reckless driving.
This he disclosed that, the role of passengers in ensuring that the driver adhere to road safety regulations cannot be overemphasized and called on the passengers to call the drivers who go wrong to order.
According to him, the new LI 2180 was enacted primarily as a result of road traffic trends that have not been clearly captured by the old legal regime. Notable among them was the use of mobile phones whilst driving.
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