He should have commiserated with Sherrif's family - Okudzeto slams Akufo-Addo over silence

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo should have commiserated with the family of the young soldier who was killed at Ashaiman while reading the State of the Nation Address.

He expressed his disappointment in this omission by the president while slamming him for missing a good opportunity to exercise the power of his office as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces.

Some unidentified persons gruesomely murdered Trooper Sherrif Imoro on Saturday, March 4, 2023, after he went to Ashaiman, purportedly to visit his mother.

The incident led to dozens of military men being sent into the community for a swoop, which eventually saw the soldiers terrorising and brutalising the residents.

In a statement released in the early hours of March 8, the Ghana Armed Forces admitted authorising the swoop, which led to the arrest of 184 people as well as the seizure of suspected illegal drugs.

In the statement, they also acknowledged excesses in the swoop but failed to apologise for or commit to investigating the incident.

But Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa believes President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo could have shown more concern by at least mentioning Sherrif's name during his Address.

"As Commander-in-Chief of the GAF, he should have first commiserated with the family and the GAF over the loss of the soldier. But the president did not say a word. He didn't think that he should condemn the brutality and assure that there would be a committee to probe the killing and the high-handedness meted out to the residents, and he is the Commander-in-Chief of the GAF?" citinewsroom.com quoted him as saying.

The MP's comments came up during the debate of the 2023 SONA in parliament.

While many look forward to the president making his first statement on the killing of the young soldier, which resulted in the Ashaiman raid, human rights advocacy organisation Amnesty International Ghana has condemned the incident.

The organisation also called for an independent investigation, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that the military personnel involved in carrying out human rights abuses against the people of Ashaiman are held accountable and that adequate compensation is given to the victims.

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