REGSEC refers policemen in shooting incident ...

...to the Attorney General's office

The Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has referred the report on the two policemen who have been implicated in the shooting incident that claimed the life of a Kotoko fan after the Kotoko-Goldfields match in Kumasi in November last year, to the Attorney General's office for advice.

This followed the outcome of an inquiry submitted by the committee which was set up by the REGSEC to investigate the shooting incident that led to the death of Frank Kwame Antwi, 31, and the injury of other persons outside the Kumasi sports stadium on November 3, 2002.


The committee chaired by Mr Justice Baffoe Bonnie, a High Court Judge, recommended that the two policemen, General Constable Class One Godwin Tavor and General Constable Class Two Frank Taasoglo of the Armoured Cars Squadron, be held responsible for the shooting and subsequent death of Antwi.


Mr Hayford Brenya, a businessman in Kumasi also sustained serious injuries during the incident.


Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister and chairman of the REGSEC, who announced this at a press briefing in Kumasi on Monday, also called on the Regional Police Command to improve its public relations outfit.


He said under "no circumstances should the police issue a public statement when it had not conducted a thorough investigation into an incident such as the one which occurred".

He also criticised the situation where arms were issued personally to personnel on duty outside Accra by authorities in Accra and said "weapons and ammunitions issued to Riot Control Units should be sent to the receiving region and re-issued to them when necessary and to be entered into the station diary.


Mr Boafo said the REGSEC also recommended compensation to be paid to the bereaved family and the funding of the burial and funeral cost of the victim by the state.


It also recommended compensation to be paid to the injured persons and the setting up of a committee of chiefs and prominent citizens of Kumasi and Obuasi under the patronage of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, to reconcile the the two clubs.


He called on the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to act with despatch on allegations by visiting teams of manhandling by home teams to forestall any attempt at retaliation.