Kumasi, May 31 GNA - Residents of North Suntreso in Kumasi have been asked to remain calm as the government studied the findings and recommendations of the Committee set up to investigate the circumstances that led to the mayhem caused by a group of unidentified men believed to be soldiers on April 26, 2005.
The group was said to have visited brutalities on the residents to avenge the lynching to death of one of their colleagues. Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, advised the residents to remain patient, after he received a 150-page report of the committee, established by the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to investigate the incident, in Kumasi on Tuesday.
He stated that appropriate and practical steps would be taken to implement the recommendations of the report, adding, adequate compensation would be paid to the victims.
Mr Boafo said: "This will help nip in the bud all future occurrences of such nasty incidents and re-awaken among the people a feeling of belonging, a feeling of being each others keeper. I consider the investigation as a way of improving civil society/military relationship and ensuring adherence and respect for civil liberties and the rights of the individual as enshrined in our Constitution".
Mr Boafo noted that the report had come at a time when the REGSEC had put in place firm measures to ruthlessly deal with all forms of lawlessness in the Region.
The committee recommended that the fourth Battalion of Infantry (4BN) that was so close to town and developed many outlets must be fenced.
It also requested that adequate compensation should be paid to the victims of the atrocities and those found to have carried out those acts be punished.
The report recommended that the military should speed up its investigations into the matter and make public its findings. Justice Joseph Kpakpo Abraham was chairman of the committee with Major Amoah Boachie of the Northern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, Chief Superintendent of Police Amponsah Asiamah, Dr A.B.K. Anane, President of the Ashanti branch of the Ghana Bar Association, Professor (Mrs) Ernestina Ardy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Mr Joseph Dassana of the Regional Co-ordinating Council as members. 31 May 05
