Morally Obscene

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Oye-Lithur



A policeman clutching the footwear of a dancing minister he is assigned to connotes abuse of the bodyguard released by the Police Administration to offer protection to the government appointee.

The terms of reference, if there are, in black and white, for such cops precludes servitude in the manner as captured by a front page image in last Friday’s edition of DAILY GUIDE.

The picture comes at the heels of an image of Barack Obama holding an umbrella over his head during a downpour. There was another one showing a prime minister of one of the European countries riding a bicycle – images which trended for a long time before the one showing Oye Lithur, Gender Minister, in a dancing mode with the cop holding her shoes.

The Gender Minister’s front page slot evoked unenviable moral questions. Her bodyguard, who clutched her shoes as she danced, we can bet, did so because he had no option: he is serving a minister, a powerful one at that, who can order his immediate transfer to the backwaters of Ghana.

The obscenity of the image was what caused it to go viral on social media. Those who beheld it in the paper could not but recall pictures of European and American leaders shunning such undignifying and crude protocols. In this day and age, smart phones are freely and effectively used to record spectacles which are morally offensive. Someone who was close to the scene captured it and soon it spread across the country.

Poverty can lead to people losing their dignity. The Oye Lithur policeman’s obvious love for the occasional tips given him by Madam would even make him incensed with our concern for the debasement of his human dignity.

We are aware of how many cops would rather they are attached to government appointees, especially the generous ones from whom the freebies could trickle down to them. Be it as it may, the human being demands a modicum of dignity so as much as possible, a cop with a wife and children at home should not openly be engaged in such menial engagements with the cameras trained on him.

That is why certain chores should not be assigned other human beings. Our position might be rubbished by especially those enjoying these protocols, but even as they insist on managing their affairs this way, all we ask is that they show deference to the poor cops attached to them in a way that they would not lose too much face at home.

There are government appointees who share their food with these cops, not so others who do not even bother to find out whether these guys have been fed during their sometimes arduous trips outside Accra with their bosses.

 


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