The Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, has virtually sided with the soldiers who assaulted residents of Ashaman onTuesday, by urging Ghanaians to accord security officers the needed respect to prevent unnecessary confrontations.
Making his major comment in the wake of the invasion of Ashaiman metropolis by some soldiers after the killing of a young military officer, the Defense Minister, failed to condemn the lawlessness exhibited by the soldiers under a democratic dispensation led by a lawyer; Nana Akufo-Addo, who prides himself as a believer of rule of law and human rights, but rather resorted to warning the public not to cross the soldiers.
The soldiers brutalised several residents in the hope of finding the killers of their colleague.
“I will appeal to the people of Ghana to be respectful of people in uniform, it will help all of us. I will not say anything else until we, the committee members, have gone on Thursday to the place and ascertained things for ourselves.”
The Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, has also revealed that the committee together with the Ministry of Defence and the Military High Command, will pay a visit to the Ashaiman community on Thursday, March 16.
Speaking to journalists, the Chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee, Kennedy Agyepong, said the visit will inform the committee of its next line of action.
Meanwhile, a pressure group – Ashaiman Lives Matter – has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to immediately set up a committee to probe brutalities meted out to residents of Ashaiman by some soldiers.
The group made up of former MP, Alfred Agbesi and current MP Ernest Norgbey in a statement condemned the invasion of Ashaiman by some soldiers who brutalised and arrested over 150 people.
The invasion, followed the death of a young soldier who was stabbed to death by some unknown assailants in the community.
“We are currently in a constant state of fear for our dear lives because the soldiers told the residents that it is a Month’s Operation and they have instructions from above to put the fear of God in them to avenge the murder of the fallen soldier.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, we the people of Ashaiman condemn the beastly acts of the Ghana Armed Forces, and we also call for President of the Republic of Ghana His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo Danquah, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces to do same and render an unqualified apology to the Good People of Ashaiman for the criminal acts of his troops.”
The group is also demanding compensation for victims assaulted by the soldiers.
The group also called on the media, civil society, the Ghana Bar Association, and the clergy among others to condemn the violence and criminal acts of the soldiers.
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