Order release of arrested persons; probe brutalities – Ashaiman group to Akufo-Addo

A pressure group calling itself Ashaiman Lives Matter is demanding that President Akufo-Addo set up a committee to investigate brutalities against residents of Taifa-Ashaiman suffered in the hands of the military on Tuesday, March 7 2023.

They condemned the actions by the military personnel deployed to the area and also called on the police to speed up their investigation.

“We are currently in a constant state of fear for our dear lives because the soldiers told the residents that it is a Month’s Operation and they have instructions from above to put the fear of God in them to avenge the murder of the fallen soldier.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the press we the people of Ashaiman condemn the beastly acts of the Ghana Armed Forces and we also call on President of the Republic of Ghana His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo Danquah, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces to do same and render an unqualified apology to the good people of Ashaiman for the criminal acts of his troops,” the group stated.

They continued: “Therefore as a matter urgency: calling on the President to order the immediate release of all residents of Ashaiman that the soldiers are illegally keeping in their custody. Calling on the President to immediately set-up a committee to investigate the criminal acts of the soldiers and the culprits punished.”

However, the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has stated categorically that the military operation in Ashaiman on Tuesday, March 7 in which some innocent residents were brutalized was not to avenge the killing of a young soldier, Trooper Imoro Sheriff.

The soldier, who was stationed at Sunyani but was on a course in Accra had sought permission to visit his parents at Ashaiman where he grew up but was found in a pool of blood in the early hours of Saturday March 4, 2023 near the Amania Hotel in Ashaiman.

According to the GAF, the Military operation in Ashaiman-Taifa and Tulaku was to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime and in the process, the Military picked up about 184suspects aged between 21 and 47 years old and have handed them over to the Military Police and subsequently to be sent to the Ghana Police Service for screening and for further action.