Ejura brutalities: We can’t fault the Military – Criminologist

A Criminologist and a Lecturer at Institute of Distance Learning at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Dr. Jones Opoku-Ware has said the Military cannot be faulted in the unfortunate incident which claimed two lives and saw four others injured at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.

That he said was because per the account given by the military at the ongoing committee of inquiry, the military only acted upon information given to them.

He noted the structural design of the military makes it impossible for them to undertake civil resolutions adding theirs was to quell the situation and that was exactly what they did.

“Basically, I wouldn’t fault the military, because by their architecture and confederation that how they are supposed to act. You know the way they are configured they are not into this kind of civil resolution of issues so I tell people that they come to assault and not to resolve and when they come in, their motive and their operational strategy is to quell any kind of threat so when you tell them that they should come for reinforcement what that means is that whoever is there earlier on had been overwhelmed by whatever threat that exist,” he said.

Dr Opoku-Ware made the comment on Big Issue, a weekend current affairs programmed aired on Citi TV on Saturday, July 10 and monitored by GhanaPlus.com.

He said a call for re-enforcement only meant the situation was beyond the control of the police personnel on the ground and that explained the way the military acted.

“So by the narration of the military you can’t actually fault them because whatever information taken to them for them to come ,it was like there was a threat and that the police had been over powered so whatever threat that was overpowering the police by their combative architecture, they are suppose to come and quell that threat that is why when you see the video and the way they acted you see that immediately they got out of the car, they were in combative posture and  they had to move straight to action,” he added.

“So base on the analysis and kind of commentary the military people have given, I don’t see them as having faulted because of their architecture and the configuration they are and the kind of information they gave to them to come and act on,” he insisted.

Military shoot demonstrators at Ejura

The military on 29^th of June in a viral video were seen shooting into demonstrators at Ejura who were demanding justices for the murdered social activist and #FixTheCountry campaigner, Ibrahim Mohammed alias Kaaka Mucho.

The development saw two dead and four others sustaining various degree of injuries.

Ejura Committee inquiry

However, appearing before a committee of inquiry set by the Interior Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery upon the instructions of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, one Wednesday, July 7, the General Officer Commander- Central Command, Brigadier General Josephs Aphour said “My Battalion Commander called me the day of the incident that that was happening in Ejura, the indent that we all know.

“Then I had a call from the Chairman of Regional Security Council (REGSEC) that the situation was getting out of control and that there was the need for us at Operations Calm Lives  to  move inside, if not things will get out of control.”

Source: GhanaPlus.com