By Gifty Arthur
In an era where identical names and simple resemblance have landed innocent people in trouble, vehicle owners must be on the lookout for a possible duplication of their cars’ registration numbers by the Ghana Armed Forces, for military operations on unmarked vehicles.
“This is nothing; there is nothing wrong with using someone else’s vehicle number plate. Look, the car I have here has one, and I have brought these copies to show you because this is something we do all the time”.
These were the words of Warrant Officer (WO) Osei-Akoto, an Army officer of the Burma Camp in Accra, when he stormed the Kpeshie Divisional MTTU of the Ghana Police at Nungua- Accra, in a military green pickup vehicle with registration number GW 1606 T.
He explained that although they used such plates, all the vehicles that use such plates have their original numbers and so when they are involved in any case, the forged plates will not be used in the case but the original plates.
Warrant Officer Osei-Akoto, was summoned by the head of MTTU of the Kpeshie station, Assistance Superintendent of Police (ASP) Manu, to assist the Police investigate a case in which a banker, Mr.Kwame Adu-Kummi with Barclays Bank of Ghana, had reported to the Nungua Police station that he had spotted a 4×4 Scorpion Military vehicle at Teshie which coincidentally carried the same number plate, GT 8988R as his personal vehicle which he was driving at the time to work.
His vehicle, a Mercedes Benz ML which he personally bought in 2007, has been registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). Sensing danger, Mr. Adu-Kummi questioned the driver, of the vehicle, Kwadwo Omari, a mechanic, who revealed that the vehicle was given to him by an Army Officer, W.O Acquah of the Burma Camp, to repair a mechanical fault.
Attempts by the officer in-charge at the Police station, Mr. J Dadson, to trace W.O Acquah on phone failed, as he was said to have travelled to Lebanon for peacekeeping, soon after giving the car out for repairs.
To clear his name and free himself from detention, the driver provided the phone number of WO Akoto-Osei, who The Herald later learnt is in-charge of issuing number plates for use by the Ghana Armed Forces.
Upon dashing to the Police Station, WO Akoto-Osei, in a rather unperturbed mood, ranted, and over simplified the case, saying that it was a non-starter, claiming that the military has been forging vehicle number plates of civilians anytime they needed to do an operation in town; he went further to show to all present two of such number plates one of which read GT 5860 F.
“What I am saying is that this number does not carry any weight, so even if it coincides with somebody’s number, at the end of the day, this one is not on any paper. Ours, I can say, is rather fake because the car has its original number”, he explained.
He revealed that the plates are cut by the military but not the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, unlike the Police.
Attempts by the security officers to have the matter settled failed as Mr. Adu-Kummi contended that the conduct of the soldiers was unacceptable, and insisted on pursuing the matter, saying that a crime could be committed by someone using his registered number plate, and he would be arrested over it.
The WO accompanied by a colleague, had wanted to kill the story because they held the view that should the case get to the public, it would tarnish the image of the Military.
W. O Akoto-Osei who admitted issuing the fake number plates, disclosed that the issuance of the plates is an order from above. He pleaded with Mr. Adu-Kummi not to pursue the case further since he was ready to replace the faked number plate which happens to be his car’s number plate with the original plate which read 37 GA 01.
But Mr. Adu-Kummi insisted that he will pursue the case to every length to have his number plate completely erased from the military records. There and then, Mr. Kwame Adu-Kummi, together with WO Osei Akoto and the mechanic were asked by the Police to write their statement for investigation.