I remember growing up as a child in Accra. I didn’t come from what you would call a good neighbourhood, neither did we have everything we needed, much less what we wanted. But we had a certain sense of security that made us feel at peace with our environment. Then, we had always hoped and looked forward to a more secure, stable, peaceful and prosperous Ghana. But as things stand now, I am beginning to feel deluded. Like a rain washed empty food can, my hopes have been submerged in a deluge. Does anyone really care about us? I mean us, less mortals. Those of us who do not have relatives and or friends in high places and are poor and disadvantaged – who cares about us? Who is interested in those of us who are not well connected? I recall with sorrow the story of the Late Ama Sumani. Just like most Ghanaians she traveled to the UK in such of hope and a better life, not for herself alone but for her family and most importantly, her two children. Meanwhile Ama had also lost her husband. Unfortunately for her, while in the UK, she came down with an ailment, something she absolutely had no control over. The British government did what they could for her for a while, and on purely legal considerations, they deported her back to Ghana – her motherland. ‘Home sweet home’, you might have thought, but not in her case, just as it is for many others like her. It took some few Ghanaians including a radio station to raise funds to assist Ama to pay for her dialysis treatment at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital. Sadly, Ama didn’t survive long enough to tell her full story. The state did not come to her aid when she needed the state most and she is not the only one. There are countless others like Ama, who can’t also get justice that they so much deserve. That is not because we have no justice system in place in this country, it just doesn’t work for little souls. If you are a regular reader of the news you will understand what I mean. A man steals a bunch of plantain or a goat or sheep. These are crimes, so he must be punished. The man gets punished and he goes to prison. He probably gets five or seven years. But some others commit murder, they are arrested with narcotic drugs on their persons or even caught red-handed stealing state money but they are walking free and enjoying their loot. Those who get to be tried often get ridiculous sentences and in no time they are out of prison. Our history is replete with many such examples that I won’t go any further. A second year University of Ghana student, Senyo Kojo was on his way at dawn to collect a pen drive from a friend at ‘Pillar Two’, Dome in Accra. He couldn’t find his way, and so he asked two women for directions. Frightened for no apparent reason, they shouted “thief, thief”. Some fellas came on him and trashed him, nearly to death. Thankfully, a Good Samaritan appeared on the scene, asked the mob to cease the savagery. Miraculously, they obeyed him and the young man’s life was saved. Others in similar circumstances like him whose guilt or innocence could not be proven were not that lucky, they suffered the ultimate –they were killed! He managed to go to the police to make a complaint. They could not help him. Together with an uncle, he arrested one of the suspected potential murderers and sent him to the police. The police simply let him go. Their excuse – they couldn’t prosecute him for lack of evidence. As if that arrest could not have been the basis for investigations to find the other blood thirsty morons and let them face true justice to serve as a lesson for others who would jump at suspects at the least opportunity before they knew what they were being accused of. The police at Dome couldn’t care a hoot. That was a potential future Vice Chancellor of a university who nearly lost his life in that senseless act of instant justice that occurs daily in our beautiful country, where it appears no one cares. As I write this piece my heart is so heavy. A fifteen-year-old girl who was sent to live with an aunt became an object of sexual abuse by two sex maniacs, a father and his son. The two obviously mentally ill blokes who certainly are lower than vermin repeatedly abused this hapless girl sexually for all the while she has been under their roof. And as they did, she dared not complain or report the matter to her aunt who is the wife and mother of the social misfits. The aunt would have none of it. She warned the poor princess to shut up and bear the humiliating cross imposed on her by two miscreants – a father and a son. The poor girl while she was being constantly treated in a disgusting manner by father and son, had no where to go nor anyone to report the matter to. She was trapped and imprisoned by the very circumstances that should have provided her with security and hope for a brighter future, life in the care of her aunt. The girl is now pregnant! But who cares? Until she was overwhelmed by the horrors that were being visited on her and she ran away to sleep at the beach where she was found and her story now out. But as I write Tuesday evening April 1, 2008, I am not too sure if the state has shown any interest in the case. I would have thought that in a caring society, someone would have been arrested by now and serious investigations launched into the matter to bring the culprits to book! I would have thought that women's groups, child's rights activists and human rights activists would have been up in arms seeking justice and reprive for this girl. But none yet. As I am at it, our politicians are doling out large sums of money to jobless teeming young people to do their bidding, they are up and about causing confusion and destroying property. They are mobilizing and doing everything in their power to win power, so they will continue to rule the rest of us, who they care less about. The police whose duty it is to protect the rest of us seem to have lost it. I wonder if the Ghana Police have any inner strength left to do their job with a good number of their senior officers caught in very comfortable positions with drug barons. The Ghana Police have been so scandalized that if I was in the service, I would have no choice but to resign! Quantities of seized cocaine kept in the Police Exhibit Room which is equipped with CCTV cameras at no less a place than the CID headquarters have been stolen and replaced with corn flour! Sometime ago there was news that a woman who made a distress call to the police while her home was being robbed received a rude reponse at the other end. The officer who received the call asked her how she got that police number! I know some very decent, responsible and committed policemen. Indeed, I studied with some of them at the University of Ghana and we lived in the same magnificent Mensah Sarbah Hall, and so the current state of the Ghana Police makes me pity them. These days when the police have acted to resolve a crime,most people see it as a flash in the pan and not a decisive action. Some even think, the victims have just been lucky the police acted to apprehend their tormentors. All these, despite the fact that the Ghana Police is one of the best in the world. They are capable and competent, but simply refuse to click. Our politicians are able to raise huge sums of money for their campaigns but quite clearly they show little interest in our plight. When they get power they only take care of themselves, their cronies and hangers on. We only deserve small mercies for which we must be extremely grateful to them. The rest of us, if it is not election time, could probably go to hell. And if we do, who cares? It will lessen their worries. Authored by Emmanuel K. Dogbevi Email: edogbevi@hotmail.com