Police should have beaten demonstrators for engaging in lawlessness — Obiri Boahen

Former Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Obiri Boahen, has said the police should have dealt ruthlessly with the demonstrators who misbehaved at the Democracy Hub demonstration.

He claimed that some of the demonstrators went beyond a certain limit and ought to have been dealt with by the police.

He said the demonstrators had no right or authority to destroy the posters and other paraphernalia of the NPP.

The private legal practitioner said it was disgusting for the demonstrators to have behaved in that manner.

"The police should have beaten the demonstrators. Not all of them, but those who went beyond a certain limit. If you are embarking on a demonstration, you should do so. You have no right to destroy NPP posters," he told Kwabena Agyapong, host of Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM.

He proposed the intervention of the military as part of efforts to support the police in managing law and order.

The security situation in Africa, he stated, was not predictable, and we have to put measures in place to prevent any form of instability, citing the lawlessness recorded during the demonstration as an example.

"I am not saying the police are weak and cannot perform, but psychologically, when people see soldiers, there is some level of fear. So if there were soldiers at the demonstration, do you think the gentleman who removed the key of the police vehicle would have done that?" he quizzed.

He stressed the need for the soldiers to be deployed to patrol together with the police to ensure security, stability, and discipline before, during, and after the elections.

"Let the soldiers be deployed together with the police. We are entering October and preparing for the elections. Security is very important, and we cannot take things for granted. We are talking about peace and security, and this will in no way make Ghana a military state," he said.