It will be prejudicial for military to investigate Captain Mahama's death - Ampaw

Private legal practitioner, lawyer Maurice Ampaw has shot down the call by the military to investigate the death of Captain Maxwell Mahama.

At a durbar organised for military personnel by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Major General Obed Akwa, the soldiers demanded retaliation.

The CDS had a tough job suppressing the men who were out for blood. They also demanded that they are allowed to investigate the matter because they did not have confidence in the police.

“We have military police. It is not in every instance that we allow the civilian police to be telling us about evidence. You have seen something clearly and you are telling me about evidence. What more evidence do you want from this? The Ghana Armed Forces has the military police. We can handle our things. It is not everything that you take to the civil police,’’ the soldiers demanded.

But responding to the call, lawyer Ampaw said, they are directly involved in the case and may not be fair in their investigations.

He asked, ‘’when you have an interest in the matter, and you are allowed to investigate, how fair will you be? ‘’Your investigation will be tainted with suspicion and then people will think that you have already been prejudiced.’’

The military he stressed should not investigate because they are traumatised.

‘’It is not even advisable for a lawyer to represent his wife or a doctor to operate his wife. How much more military who have lost a gallant member. You cannot ask a traumatised person, to investigate something in his interest.’’

‘’This is a matter involving the military, they are incensed, and emotionally traumatized hence they cannot organise a fair investigation. They were also not trained for that. We should allow the appropriate institution to investigate and unravel mysteries and people who commit gruesome murder.’’

In the view of Maurice Ampaw, the military may not have confidence in the police to thoroughly investigate the matter considering previous failed investigations conducted by them.

‘’We don’t want perceptions against the military and so they should allow the appropriate institutions to work.’’