CHRAJ condemns Ashaiman military brutality; says act is dehumanizing

The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has condemned the military brutality which took place last Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at Taifa, a suburb of Ashaiman in the Greater Accra region.

It is alleged that some personnel believed to be members of the Ghana Armed Forces stormed the community and brutalized people after a 22-year-old service man Sherrif Imoro was murdered in a cold blood.

The military at the end of the brutalities rounded off one hundred and eighty-four (184) individuals who the Ghana Armed Forces described as suspects in connection with the murder of the late Sherrif Imoro.

Even though the brutalities by the military were widely considered both on social media and traditional media as a move to avenge the slain soldier, the Ghana Armed Forces in a statement released shortly after the issue broke out explained that the exercise was an “intelligence-led operation.”

But reacting to the incident in an interview, the Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr. Joseph Whittal, said the exercise does not pass the test for an intelligence-led operation while adding that the military acted wrongly.

“Because of their personal interest, they come (to Ashaiman), take over the law and do what they want. I completely condemn it. It is a degrading and dehumanizing treatment to put such persons who are going to their work arrest them, make them do press-ups in mud, sitting down with all their clothing removed apart from some briefs is completely unacceptable and that this is exacted by the army of Ghana? It’s completely unacceptable,” the Commissioner lamented.

He stated emphatically that “any defence of it by any leadership of the military is a misplaced support…We need to call what is wrong wrong and what is right right but the action by the military is completely wrong” Mr. Whittal added.

However, the Commissioner of CHRAJ has advised the Ashaiman community to discard any plans of a reprisal attack and hold themselves and allow lawful bodies like the Ghana police to investigate and take the right steps.

Mr. Whittal noted that the military still have weapons that they can always apply.

He also stressed that CHRAJ “when called upon will take the right steps because it is the ombudsman that has constitutional powers to investigate military issues in the event that the military go beyond their normal duty and it affects the right of people.”

However, for a CHRAJ investigation to take place the process can only be triggered if an official complaint is filed on the matter, Mr. Whittal explained.