Jailhouse Nightmare

Yesterday was moving day.  Our new home was finally finished and we had spent the last few days moving the little stuff.  There's not really much to move.  The Church in Western Ghana has hired two young, very nice, efficient and capable African men to help the missionaries and new branches take care of their physical housing needs, like moving, air-conditioning that breaks down, new apartments, and so on. (The Elders don't get the air-conditioning-just old senior missionaries.) One of them is named Prosper and the other Kwayku Cooper Dautsee.  They have both been extremely helpful.  Kwayku and several men he hired drove up from Kumasi to help us hook up the air, put in curtain rods, and help us move the big stuff (refrigerator, stove, couch, bed, etc.).

While some of the men stayed at our new place to hook up the generator (which we have to use 3-4 times a week because the power is always going out), Kwayku went with us to purchase a router so we can finally have internet and Gary will be able to use his Ipad.  After we got that all taken care of, Kwayku headed back and we went to pick up some new drapery rods so they could get them hung before going back to Kumasi.

We were just about to leave the only department store in Sunyani named Melcom's.  It's a 3-story K-Mart type place with really basic, tacky stuff and no air-conditioning and no elevators, so the higher you walk up, the hotter and smellier it gets.  We purchased the rods as quickly as possible and were loading them in the car, when Prosper called from Kumasi to tell us that Kwayku had gotten arrested and we needed to go to the police station to help him.  We, of course, had no idea where the police station was, so we stopped a woman on the street and asked her.  She told us it was a barracks-type building just down a little way, so we headed there as Gary called his buddy, President Owusu.  Owusu was already at the police station. That man knows everything that's going on and everyone in Sunyani!

Owusu and George, one of Kwayku's friends, met us in the parking lot.  They quickly explained that a policeman had stopped Kwayku after going through a traffic light and told him he needed to give him 5 cedis.  Kwayku told him he hadn't run the light and they got into a huge argument.  I explained earlier how the Ghanaian people get very agitated, very quickly.  Kwayku had NOT run the light and demanded that they go to the police station, so off they went, where they promptly took away his license and threw him in the jail.  The jail is dirty, dark and just an all-around terrible place.  He was beaten (smacked in the face) and told he would have to stay there for a few days.

Owusu had in the meantime called one of his friends who works at the police department, but he was out of the city.  The Ghanaian people quite like and respect obrunis (white people) and especially older obrunis, so Owusu said we all needed to go in and vouch for Kwayku and see if we could get him out.  What happened next is still unbelievable.

We waited for quite a while, and then along with Owusu, we were escorted into a filthy, small (about a 10 x 10 foot) room that was lined with 4 crude desks around the outer walls. It was very crowded and cramped. The walls were smudged with grime and the plaster was cracked and chipping off.  A single light was hanging in the middle of the room and they pulled out two plastic chairs, placed them in the middle of the room, and told Gary and I to sit down.  Three very large, intimidating police officers sat at the the desks.  Most Ghanaian people are small and slightly built.  These guys were all bruisers.  I guess if you're a big guy in Ghana, it pays to be a policeman! The carpet was so dirty, it looked like it had never been vacuumed and resembled dirt itself, and the small window above one of the desks was so clouded with smut and dead flies, you couldn't even see out of it.  A very abrasive and homely woman sat in one corner and unlike most of the people in Sunyani, who are always so neat and clean, her uniform was soiled and ragged and dirty.  We waited as they yelled back and forth in Twi.  I finally started talking with the big guy across the desk from me.  He was one of the biggest Ghanaians I have seen and as we talked, he would lean back against the wall behind him.  All across the scummy wall was a huge greasy stain where he had pressed his head.  A few minutes later, another man walked in and handed him 5 cedis.  He promptly put the money in his own pocket, then reached in the drawer and handed the other guy his driver's license.  It was obviously a payoff.

They finally got around to talking to us and said that Kwayku was going to have to stay in jail.  Gary spoke up and told them that just was not possible as he was helping us with the Church and that we needed him today.  They did seem to take that into consideration and Gary speaking up for him did seem to make a difference.  Then the big guy I was talking with started yelling loudly, agitated again, that Kwayku wouldn't say he was sorry or apologize.  Gary and Owusu calmed him down and said we would vouch for him.  They finally said we could take him out for the night, but that he would have to come back in the morning for his license, which they had abducted and were holding, and pay a fine. We quickly agreed before they could change their minds again.  Kwayku was released, with his face all bruised and smashed, and we left for the evening. 

The next morning we went back and they said he would have to pay 100 cedis to get his license back.  Owusu made a few phone calls and then they reduced it to 50 cedis and we got the license and got out of there.  The whole story is that the police are corrupt and will try to get money out of anyone they stop.  Kwayku drives a nice truck so they thought he was an easy mark and an easy bribe.  We are so thankful that we have never had to worry about this kind of thing in America and that most of our police officers are there to help us, not shake us down for money.  Elder Thayne is driving much  more carefully now, and Owusu's policeman friend got back in town and they introduced us and gave us his personal phone number just in case.