An Associate Professor at the School of Law, University of Ghana, Prof Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, is pushing for President Akufo-Addo to discharge from the service, military personnel in the brutal swoop that occurred at Ashaiman on Tuesday, March 7.
According to Prof Appiagyei-Atua, the actions of the military officers are unpardonable, thus he was of the expectation that the President would have publicly addressed the incident and in turn dismiss some people from office.
It is recalled that at dawn of Tuesday, a brutal military invasion occurred in some parts of Ashaiman, following the murder of a soldier, Trooper Imoro Sherrif, on Saturday dawn at Ashaiman-Taifa.
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) eventually disclosed in a press statement issued on March 7, that the operation was sanctioned by the Military High Command, and that it was a swoop in a man-hunt for the culprits involved in the murder, but not for vengeance for their deceased colleague.
Speaking on Newsfile on Saturday, Prof Appiagyei-Atua disclosed that after the brutal occurrence on Tuesday, he had received messages from various quarters justifying the actions of the military.
However, the professor insisted that since Ghana is a democratic country, something of that sort should not have happened because the military is supposed to be accountable to a civilian head, who is the President of the State.
He told the host, Samson Lardy Anyenini, “The soldiers are supposed to be accountable to a civilian authority, and the civilian authority is the Commander-in-Chief and he should make sure that by this time there would have been some dismissals.”
Additionally, Prof Appiagyei-Atua pointed out that, although the operation was sanctioned by the Military High Command, the President has a superior hand and could axe out the military personnel that meted out the brutalities on the innocent victims.
He explained that his suggestion will be plausible because, although the GAF claims that the occurrence was an intelligence-led operation, the aftermath of their actions proves the contrary.
“If they [GAF] would talk to him [the President] that maybe it was an intelligence-led operation but it has proven that it is not an intelligence-led operation, it was a swoop which led to many innocent people, almost everybody who was arrested and what did they find? Some…cocaine and so on, that is not what they were going to look for.”
Prof Appiagyei-Atua added that “So, the president should own up, and he should dissociate himself from the statements made by the Minister of Defence and the Deputy Minister, to say that no, this is not how the process should have gone, this is not how the operation should have been orchestrated so, you are suspended.”
He further added that attention must be paid to the police for failing to intervene to see that the military troops involved in the ‘swoop’ were dealt with in accordance with the criminal laws of the State.
“There are rules, there are tribunals under the security and intelligence act. There are Armed Forces Act, the Police Service Act, there are rules there. The constitution tells about the responsibilities of the police. And that should also be one place to look at.”
“The shirking of responsibility on the part of the police for not coming out and taking any actions to ensure that these soldiers are also dealt with according to the criminal laws of the country,” Prof Appiagyei-Atua stressed.
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