The Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for the Tamale South constituency, Haruna Iddrisu, has advised military officers in the country, to always use lawful means to resolve any grievances they may have with the civilian population.
According to him, the Ghana Armed Forces risk losing its relevance in the society and respect in the eyes of the citizenry if it continues to employ uncivilized means such as beating up and maiming the civilian population at the least provocation.
“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,” the Minority Leader said on the Floor of Parliament in a reaction to the recent military brutalities in Wa, in the Upper West region.
Parliament has commissioned the Committee on Defence and Interior to investigate the facts of a video going around in the media landscape where a group of military officers were seen beating up people, they came across in the town indiscriminately.
The military brutalities which were caught on a phone camera by an amateur film maker, was allegedly triggered by a report that a military officer in mufti was robbed of his money and phone at knife point in the town.
The military rampage has left many people injured and hospitalized.
“In the fear and panic created in the society, which hitherto is a peaceful society, what kind of relationship does the Ghana Armed Forces want to have with the civil population of Ghana?”, the Minority Leader quizzed.
He added, “don’t forget, your uniform and your number of ammunitions will not be enough to contain a civilian rejection, that enough is enough.”
The Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, told Parliament that the soldiers who engaged in the act which he said is uncharacteristic of the Ghana Armed Forces, would be punished after an investigative team made up of the Ministry, National Security and the Military Intelligence Unit completes its investigations.
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
