Colonialism, legitimation, and policing in Ghana

Most existing historiographies of colonial and post-colonial policing in Ghana have focused nearly exclusively on providing a basic understanding of managerial issues—that is, organisational and administrative structure, functions and modes of operation. Our knowledge of issues of police legitimation, and of the ‘quality of policing’ remains very limited. This article discusses these issues and establishes the vital importance of history to understanding the contemporary quality of policing in Ghana. Human rights violations, police corruption and police impunity are established as salient characteristics of the police service; these characteristics are traced to the operating philosophy of the former colonial police, and the failure of successive post-colonial governments ideologically to transform the police. Such a transformation is necessary to address and overcome the challenges that are posed by the contemporary liberal-democratic political environment.