Your silence on military attack on Ashaiman residents is an endorsement of wrong doing – CDD-Ghana

The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has described President Akufo-Addo’s silence on the military attack on residents at Ashaiman as a tacit endorsement.

In a statement, CDD-Ghana averred the military’s actions were “flagrantly unprofessional and savage.”

The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) had said the invasion of Ashaiman, a suburb in Accra by military officers over the death of a young soldier was sanctioned by the Military High Command.

According to a GAF statement, the military operation was authorised by the Military High Command and was not intended to avenge the death of the young soldier, but rather to apprehend the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

GAF said the swoop was not intended to target innocent civilians but was instead an intelligence-led operation conducted on suspected criminal hideouts and crime-prone areas in the general area.

But CDD has condemned the act and has demanded that the President punish the officers responsibly.

“The Executive branch must also be advised that failing to condemn and sanction the military officers implicated in this barbaric episode is a slippery slope toward a generalized state of lawlessness and anarchy. The government’s tacit endorsement of this incident only goes to embolden military officers to take matters into their own hands whenever they deem it necessary to do so”, the statement read in parts.

“CDD-Ghana is highly appalled by the conduct of the military officers at Ashaiman. We are further deeply dismayed by the revelation that this flagrantly unprofessional and barbaric conduct by military personnel was sanctioned by the military hierarchy and received justification and approval not only from the Military High Command, but also from a Deputy Minister of Defence, Kwaku Amankwa Manu, who as a member of the civilian government must exercise oversight and control over the conduct and operations of the armed forces”, it added.