Mafia �Game� @ Statistical Service [1] �Sad Story Of Five Workers

Information reaching the offices of the Daily Democrat indicates that some managers at the Ghana Statistical Service have cultivated the habit of punishing junior staff who do not tow their line of corruption as far as national projects are concerned. The punishment these �drain the nation� civil servants inflict on a junior staff, according to our source, is either to frighten, frustrate of force the person to tender in his/her resignation. With their modus operandi, these corrupt people within the service have succeeded in humiliating and disgracing some loyal employees of the Ghana Statistical Service who ensured prices of vehicles rented during the recent national census were not inflated. Emmanuel Badasu, a driver of the service and person in charge of the rented vehicles and four other drivers of the Ghana Statistical Service namely Eric Nii Amoo, Daniel Mensah, Kwaku Adom and Tarezinu Williams were framed as thieves and arrested. During the recent national census, these dedicated and selfless employees of the service worked their heart out to ensure that other employees of the service and the rest of the personnel who were hired to help in the exercise were at post on time and also get to their destination on time. The paper gathered that dedicating themselves to mother Ghana, they worked from 4am and closed far beyond mid night and sometimes these drivers got home after 2am only to return to work at 4am. The source mentioned that some of the employees from other departments were so impressed with the performance of these drivers. However, instead of the service rewarding them, the gurus rather framed and got them arrested, humiliated them in front of their families and friends like some hardened criminals. According to eyewitnesses, three days after Emmanuel Badasu was arrested, the police personnel, numbering about six, who accompanied him home to search his room, were armed to the teeth while Badasu was handcuffed like a notorious armed robber. �They did that to deliberately humiliate and disgrace him and the family,� said a family member. Emmanuel Badasu and some of his colleagues were arrested and put in separate police custodies. However, Badasu, the one in charge of the rented vehicles was locked up in a cell for four days without being arraigned before court and on the fifth day the police granted him bail and was directed to report at the Ministry�s Police every morning. Believing in his innocence and that of his colleagues, Badasu reported to the station as commanded but any time he went there, he told the police, �Please, arraign us before court and let us have a logical conclusion to this case.� His persistence of going to court did not go down well with a senior officer at the station, so one morning when he reported, the officer (Name withheld) asked him to take off his clothes and had him locked up for another five days before. During his time in cell, the senior police officer allegedly tried every means possible to persuade Badasu to admit to the offence but when he realized Badasu was adamant he told him,� I think you enjoyed your stay in the Ministry�s Police cell, I will transfer you to another cell in a different jurisdiction.� According to Badasu, he thought the senior police officer was just joking but that evening he (Badasu) was transferred to the Adabraka Police station where he spent another five days before given bail. He revealed that they were arraigned before court a month later charged with conspiracy to steal a Toyota Hilux with registration number ER 2116 W belonging to the service. The court presided over by (SGD) Seyram T.Y. Asumah, however, upheld a submission of no case made on behalf of each of the five accused persons. The judge also acquitted and discharged each of the accused persons on count two while Emmanuel Badasu was in addition acquitted and discharged on count one.