A case against police

On Sunday I was chatting on msn messenger with an auntie to who I explained what my job was about. She concluded that it is difficult to achieve big results in the fight against corruption, and therefore to get rid of it, since the statu quo benefits the two parties.

The challenge in tackling road (transport) corruption -- falling in the category of petty corruption, probably because it is question of limited sums of money -- is that it is not usually in the limelight of media neither in most preoccupations of development agencies and so forth.

This is the first time in my life that I am dealing with the police, and it is in Ghana. Everything started when the owner of a shop in which I tried clothes on accused me of stealing a skirt. After she got my number by trick and she threatened me, I went to the police yesterday to report a case against her. She mostly accused me publicly, embarrassing me amidst people on the street. If you knew how thieves are treated in Ghana, you would understand why I was worried, besides she had already said she would blow my head off.

Now that I reported and two policemen and I went to her house and talked to her, she went to write a statement to defend herself and alleged that she made a report against me at the police headquarters. She must have more experience than me to deal with the police and already has connections there.

Tonight, the police investigator which is in charge of my case called me. He wanted to meet me to discuss about my statement and the meeting that we would hold with her and the commandant.

He came to my house. He summarised what she had put in her statement. He said that he got a call after visiting her from a colleague who told him a report was made from her accusing me of stealing. So it is likely that after going to the meeting at the police station tomorrow I then go to the Headquarters to write a statement to defend myself against her accusation.

Since the beginning you can imagine I ask a lot of questions to myself. Ghana did not teach me paranoia. I try to think strategically and anticipate on what now the police expect. It is common here to offer gifts or bribes. I already know what the investigator is interested in: computers.

The irony of corruption is the subtlety with which it is carried out. First you can not help but notice the poor conditions in which the police work: no computer, room not conditioned and lots of mosquitoes. Then it seems the actors are used to the art so well that they always find a way to convey the message implicitly but clearly enough to make you understand. For example, he brought the topic of computers in our conversation in the taxi that took me home last night after I reported. Tonight he mentioned the subject of ICT (information communication technologies) in the middle of our discussion, mixing what I was talking about -- typically the nature of my job -- the BBC that was on television and a quotation of a man who said that in Africa few people have access to ICT.

At the same time, the police will never admit they are corrupt. With hindsight I think that anything I would converse about, he would manage to link it to the issue of computers. Never asking explicitly but suggesting. Is it not scary?

I wonder why this event happens to me now. My current contract ends on October 31. Before, I was not that excited about working in the area of corruption and governance. Today I believe that the issue is worse than I imagined. It is rampant in Africa. It reflects the power of the riches. It harms a lot of people in all domains:health, justice, education, transport etc.

How is it possible that the case I reported yesterday is already -- so quickly -- to the further stage? And I have still to worry for nothing because I am persuaded that the only ones who could now benefit from the case are the police...