Ashaiman brutalities: CDD, OccupyGhana want soldiers punished

Two Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) want all military personnel involved in the brutalities at Ashaiman following the murder of the soldier, Trooper Imoro Sheriff, to face the law.

In separate statements OccupyGhana and Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD Ghana), said the brutal force used by military personnel left many unsuspecting civilian residents of Ashaiman with various degrees of injuries.

OccupyGhana

OccupyGhana described the actions of the Military as “barbaric, totally uncalled for, absolutely unconstitutional and unlawful”.

It said the constitution guaranteed inviolable dignity to all Ghanaians, even if suspected to have committed a crime and that no Ghanaian should be subjected to “torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from [our] dignity and worth as human beings”.

The pressure group therefore, stated that as the accused persons faced the law, the Military personnel involved and any officer who authorised those actions against residents of Ashaiman must be tried, and officers and supervisors who endorsed the acts after they happened must also resign.

OccupyGhana also asked the Military High Command to apologise to everyone subjected to violations and that the State needed to compensate affected persons.

“There is, therefore, no justification for the pain, suffering and torture that the soldiers visited on clearly innocent people.

“Any powers of arrest that the Military may claim to have, is no different from the arrest powers of any citizen of this country, as regulated by the Constitution,” it added.

It said the rights of Ashaiman residents had been gravely violated as the Military itself appeared to have filmed and shared videos as they subjected citizens to “unspeakable indignities, making an absolute and total a farce of what our Constitution represents and what they see their role in the Ghanaian society as. With these barbaric acts, they made themselves, judge, jury and executioner, and a very terrible one at that”

“The Constitution demands ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the specific person arrested has committed an offence. A mass swoop that occurs days after an offence, and detains as many as 184 people cannot be based on any suspicion that each of them had committed the offence. And even if any such suspicion arguably existed, it would be grossly unreasonable, unwarranted and perverse. Thus, the military unjustifiably violated the constitutional right to due process of every person they detained,” the statement noted.

It said the press statement issued by the Department of Public Relations of the Military on March 7, 2023, was an “absurd justification” of the actions of the officers and had been exposed by the facts provided by the police as false on March 12, 2023, that the unfortunate death resulted from a suspected robbery attempt.

The Pressure Group also said the suspected robbery could have happened in any part of the country and to any citizen and that the Military would not have intervened.

OccupyGhana asked the Military to acknowledge its mandate as all other security agencies to protect the people of Ghana and not to turn on them.

It extended its condolences to the family and loved ones of the murdered military officer.

CDD-Ghana appalled

CDD said the brutal force used by military personnel in their “intelligence-led operation” left many unsuspecting civilian residents of Ashaiman with various degrees of injuries.

It said others were confined to their homes for hours in fear of falling victim to the unprofessional conduct of the military personnel.

It noted that about 184 persons were arrested during this exercise by the military; adding that some were tortured while others were subjected to all kinds of inhumane treatment by the military.

“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.

“However dastardly, the alleged killing of a military officer and its investigation is a matter of internal security and criminal law enforcement which is the exclusive mandate of the Ghana Police Service, and not the Ghana Armed Forces.”

It said the Ghana Armed Forces should not be free to unilaterally use arms, military accouterments and other taxpayer/public funded resources entrusted to their care for the defense of the nation to avenge a crime committed against one of their own.

The statement said resorting to militarized self-help of this nature for criminal acts committed against individual military personnel undermines the rule of law and creates uneasiness among the civilian population.

It said the fact that the swoop at Ashaiman was not an isolated incident, it also gave cause for great concern.

It said on many occasions in the past, some officers of the Ghana Armed Forces have resorted to acts of militarized self-help in various parts of the country; terrorizing unsuspecting civilians and leaving many injured.

It said for instance, on or about July 1, 2021, a group of military men were reported to have assaulted some civilians in Wa in the Upper West Region, after a phone belonging to one of the military men was allegedly stolen in the area.

“Unfortunately, it appears the punishment meted out to soldiers has prevented these acts from re-occurring.

“We commend the efforts of the Ghana Police Service in tracking down the perpetrators of this dastardly act.”

The statement said however, in the broader spirit of exercising democratic control over the operations and conduct of the armed forces, CDD Ghana urged Parliament to investigate the incident; cause sanctions to be imposed on all persons implicated in the swoop at Ashaiman and ensure that justice was done.

It said CDD Ghana was also urging all persons directly affected by the conduct of the military personnel at Ashaiman to seek redress at the courts.

The statement said the Executive branch must also be advised that failing to condemn and sanction the military officers implicated in the episode was a slippery slope toward a generalized state of lawlessness and anarchy.

“We must remember that under a democratically-elected civilian government, such brutal and unprofessional conduct of soldiers characteristic of military regimes in the past, cannot be encouraged and must never be repeated.”

The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) is an independent, nongovernmental, and not-for-profit organization that promotes and supports, through research, education, advocacy, and policy engagement, efforts to build democracy, good governance, and inclusive development in Ghana and throughout Africa.

CDD-Ghana’s research outputs and other products are available to and used by governmental and nongovernmental agencies, Africa regional bodies, development partners as well as researchers and the public.

Soldiers invade Ashaiman-Taifa

Soldiers invaded Ashaiman-Taifa to avenge the death of their colleague Trooper Imoro Sherrif who was killed by ‘thugs’ in the area.

Armoured tanks, 2 military helicopters provided air support

The soldiers invaded the community with military vehicles including armoured tanks, and two helicopters providing air support.

Soldiers attacked residents

The heavily armed soldiers started attacking residents, preventing them from even stepping out of their homes.

Flogging of residents

In some videos on social media, a young man is heard screaming amid sounds of flogging.

Residents forced to roll in the mud

In other visuals, some residents were forced to roll on the ground in the muddy puddles created by the early morning rains.

Crawl on bellies

Videos circulating on the internet depict civilians being instructed to lie on the ground and crawl using their bellies, while others were subjected to whipping.

According to reports, persons who flout the military’s directives were flogged and manhandled.

Fear and panic

The soldiers have terrorized the local populace, causing fear and panic, and have physically assaulted residents in the neighbourhood.

In defence of brutalities, Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in a statement described it as an operation in parts of Ashaiman to swoop in a man-hunt for some criminals and not for vengeance.

Police investigations revealed that pn March 4, 2023, the police received information on a male adult found lying dead at Ashaiman Taifa.

A team of Police Officers upon reaching the place retrieved a blood-stained knife, a backpack containing an iPad, Ghana Card, National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) card, and a military uniform belonging to the victim who was a soldier with the Third Battalion of Infantry at Sunyani.

Investigations revealed that the slain soldier went to visit his female friend at Ashiaman Newtown at about 10:30pm on March 03, and left for his home at about 1:30am on March 04, but was attacked by Samuel Tetteh, and Abubakar Sadick, at Ashaiman-Taifa with the purpose of stealing his mobile phone.

He added that the two succeeded in stabbing him and robbed him of his iPhone, indicating that the stolen phone was subsequently sold to Ibrahim for GH₵‎300 who re-sold it to Safianu Musah for GH₵‎ 350.

The Prosecution added that Safianu claimed to have also sold the phone to Yussif Mohammed and Gafaru Abdul Karim.