Chief Inspector Addai is no more

One of Ghana's most dedicated Police Officers in the country, Chief Inspector Godfred Addai, a regular figure on the Nungua-Accra beach road, is no more.
The man who dedicated his all to ensuring traffic discipline died after a short illness at the Police Hospital in Accra.
Unfortunately, Chief Inspector Addai's promotion letter from the rank of Inspector to the rank of Chief Inspector arrived two days after he passed on to the other side of the world indicating that the letter was sent while he was on his sick bed at the police hospital.
The 52 year- old Police officer who was popularly known within the Teshie Nungua community as Addai, was recruited into the Ghana Police Service in 1981 after he dropped out of the Oppong Memorial Secondary School at Kokofu in form two due to financial difficulties.
In spite of his plight at the time, he started farming in the village at the age of 20 to help his parents who were also farmers at the time to take care of the family.
After three years on the farm, Inspector Addai stopped farming because he was not making the needed income and joined his uncle who was a police officer at the time in Accra.
Sources at the Kpeshie Divisional Police Headquarters indicate that his first duty post was at Ho in the Volta Region where he stayed briefly and was transferred back to Accra .
He started directing traffic within Teshie Nungua and its environs about 12 years ago when he volunteered to do the work because of the noted misconduct of some commercial drivers in that community.
His presence alone, most people said, brought sanity on the roads in the community . The drivers stopped driving on the shoulders of the road for they knew not where Addai could emerge.
Addai would make you return to join the traffic or make you park and wait for long hours before letting you go if you misconducted yourself. Not even the plea of passengers would make him change his mind. He was a strict on the road.
At the end of the dual carriage where he stood every evening, sources indicate that he regulated the trafdfic by counting the cars. He allowed ten cars from each lane and moved to 20 then to 40 when the traffic became extra heavy.
Police sources at Nungua indicate that almost all Inspector Generals of Police (IGP) have awarded him since he was transfered to Accra for his dedication to duty.
Chief Inspector Addai has also been awarded by the Regional Police Administration and some corporate entities and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly.
The Police Administration has directed that a full military burial be accorded him.
His colleagues will keep wake on March 25, 2009 at the Nungua Police Barracks. The body will be laid at the same venue on Friday March 27 where he spent most of his life as a police officer in the early hours of the day.
The body will then be moved from there to his hometown, Bekwai Assumegya in the Ashanti Region for burial on March 28, 2009.