Police chief criticizes A.B. Kromah

Deputy Police Director for Operations, Prince Mulbah, has criticized the law enforcement strategies of his predecessor, Col. Abraham Kromah as a “blatant disrespect for our people” and commercial motorcyclists.

He spoke with reporters recently inside the Port of Greenville, Sinoe County where he had gone to supervise police operations in the two southeastern counties – Sinoe and Grand Kru that co-hosted Liberia’s 168th Independence Anniversary.

Mr. Mulbah told reporters that he decides not to do his work in the media, but to remain professional while getting raid of some mechanisms put in place by his predecessor Mr. Kromah, particularly ones that demonstrated “blatant disrespect for our people” and commercial motorcyclists here.

“With respect to what we’ve been doing since we took over, despite of us getting rid of some mechanisms that were put in place by our predecessor – ones that have to do with some blatant disrespect for our people – motorcyclists are human beings, they are good as well as we are from the community.

“They contribute immensely to revenue generation of our country, so we stop one aspect of the enforcement … though the enforcement is still on,” he said.

Under his watch, Mr. Mulbah says to ease the tension between motorcyclists and the Liberian National Police, officers have stopped chasing motorcyclists with vehicles, adding that they have stopped giving officers pieces of stakes to stand along roadside to flog motorcyclists.

“We stopped that because we feel it is a violation of our [people’s rights] that we serve. The motorcyclists are part of our community that we are committed to serve, so we stopped that,” he told an interview with reporters at the Greenville Port in Sinoe.

He said restriction remains on commercial motorcyclists regarding “no go” zones such as plying main streets of Monrovia, except business bikes that take people to job or business centers and home.

He told critics that this is not just a motorcyclists issue, but a national issue, as he argued that if motorcyclists go on strike due to such treatment at the hands of police and refuse to transport passengers, commuters would face more difficulties due to deposit having taxi drivers here.

He claims that the “civil method” that is now being applied under his watch to contain motorcyclists has statistically succeeded in making arrests with accumulated “60 percent difference” over a short term, compared to what he claims his predecessor Kromah did with heavy deployment of officers to contain motorcyclists.

“The method we’re applying is much more civil; we have arrested – if the statistics will be delivered to the public – we have 60 percent difference. What do I mean, Kromah despite all the mechanisms he put into place … he arrested less than what have done in short time,” Mr. Mulbah said.

He says the police are cognizant of the fact that they owe loyalty to the people against whom they are enforcing the law, except that they have to be professional in performing their duty because protecting the people is a priority of the police.

“We don’t have anything to hide; we have much more to protect – that is human dignity, respect for the of law that’s what we do,” he told reporters. He noted that there are some politicians, who try to bring the police down day –by-day, terming as fallacy, claims by others that after the former Deputy Director for Operations, there would be no police officer to enforce the law. By Winston W. Parley – Editing by Jonathan Browne