The Minority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, has asked the military high command to stop soldiers from their frequent intimidation and attacks on the rights and freedoms of the people before they incur their wrath.
According to him, recent developments between the military and the civilian population in the country has not been the best and that, it is beginning to mare the cordial relationship which should exist between the two.
His comment comes at the back of reports of two separate military brutalities in Ejura-Sekyedumase in the Ashanti region and the Wa township in the Upper West region. Two people belonging to a group of protestors demanding for justice for their murdered colleague in Ejura-Sekyedumase, were shot dead and several others were injured by the group of military officers who were sent to control the crowd.
Also, some soldiers went on rampage in the Wa township and started brutalizing anyone they came across. They subjected them to severe beatings in a reaction to reports that one of their military colleagues who was in mufti was robbed of his money and phone in the town.
Following these incidents which happened in a sequence on Monday and Wednesday, the Minority group in Parliament led by Haruna Iddrisu, put on a red arm band on the Floor of Parliament on Friday, July 2, 2021 to protest what they refer to as “the rising sense of insecurity” in the country.
This led the Speaker to give a directive for the Parliamentary select Committee on Defence and Interior to collect and collate the facts regarding the military invasion at Wa in the Upper West region and report back to the House within four weeks.
Raising the concern on the Floor of Parliament, the Minority Leader sounded a word of caution to the Ghana army to be wary of the wedge being created gradually between themselves and the civilian population.
“There appear to be a worrying development in the country which borders on the safety and security of Ghanaian citizens largely led by the men in uniform, the Ghana Armed Forces. We have not put Ejura behind us yet. We know that there were some excesses there that resulted in the loss of life following the death of Ibrahim (Kaakah).
“There is indication that military-civil relationship is at its lowest ebb and the undermine is led by the men and women of the Ghana Armed Forces,” he observed.
The Minority Leader cautioned the military not to take the law into their own hands any time they feel aggrieved because the country is governed by laws.
“Whatever grievances any member of the Ghana Armed Forces has, we are a country governed by law, they cannot continue to take the law into their own hands. We will not accept a state of normlessness in this country. A state of lawlessness led by men in uniform.”
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
