Despite the widespread public condemnation of the Ghana Armed Forces’ invasion of Ashaiman earlier this month, it is now emerging that a section of Ghanaians have hailed the military for the action.
According to the Director-General of Public Affairs at the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier-General Aggrey Quarshie, his phone has been inundated with calls from a section of the public giving them thumbs up for the invasion of Ashaiman.
He further added that some of the supporters of the actions who called the institution to express appreciation are also calling for the operation to be repeated again in the vicinity in order to rid the place of criminals who have turned certain areas in Ashaiman into criminals’ den.
Explaining circumstances leading to the invasion by the military, the Director-General noted that the Military has been monitoring and tracking criminal events in Ashaiman.
Speaking on Accra-based TV3, Brid. Gen Aggrey Quarshie added that the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the killing of the Trooper, Sherrif Imoro. He indicated since certain areas in Ashaiman have become a “no-go” area, the military resolved to take matters into their own hands.
“Let’s take Ashaiman, well that is what is trending maybe for the wrong reasons but whatever happened at Ashaiman was not something somebody woke up one morning and said let’s go to Ashaiman. No, so many things had taken place and our soldier dying became like the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Ashaiman is a place where there are certain sections even the police cannot go and effect arrest. They won’t dare. Somebody commits a crime and you can’t even go there to arrest the person. So we were tracking certain events,” Brid. Gen Aggrey Quarshie explained.
He added that, “the number of calls that I have received and the institution has received thanking us for the actions in Ashaiman you won’t [believe] People are asking us, so General when will you do that again.. When you live within that enclave and at certain times of the day you couldn’t go to certain areas and this thing happened, you will appreciate it.”
He, however, admitted that there were lot of excesses during the operation and hence the Military High Command has taken notice and is implementing measures to prevent similar incidences in the future.
“In the case of Ashaiman, there were a lot of excesses. We saw it ourselves,” he admitted.
