Eugene Boakye Antwi has called on heads of the country’s security agencies to provide answers to the riots and killings at Ejura. He said the incident that unfolded in the Ashanti Region is evident that security agencies have still not mastered the art of managing crowd violence.
The Member of Parliament for Subin Constituency comments came following violent clashes that erupted between angry youths of Ejura and the Police enforcement team in protest of the murder of Ibrahim Mohammed, a social media that resulted in two dead and four injures.
Reacting to the sad news on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, Eugene Boakye Antwi said “I think the IGP and the Army Commander have questions to answer if you ask me. They had their men on the ground and they are best placed to answer to why certain actions were taken. I mean live bullets, rubber bullets, and what have you.”
The former deputy minister said Ghanaians are eager to hear from the state’s defense ministry noting “I think whatever the case be, the response of the security agencies should have been proportionately measured and evenly handled in crowd control. It brings to the fore how we deal with crowd control in this country.”
Eugene Boakye likened the incident at Ejura to the ‘Kumi Preko’ protest march over twenty years ago stressing that our security agencies have not developed the masterpiece to pick on the main culprits during crowd violence.
“It started right from the ‘Kumi Preko’ days. The security agencies have not got a hang of dealing with crowd control and that going forward I believe it’s a key thing to address,” he added.
Mr. Boakye, who claimed knowledge of Dagbani indicated that it was a provocative response from the crowd that he supposed, might have instigated the action of the security forces.
“I understand bits and pieces of Hausa. I overheard the guy saying in the background saying ‘they can’t do anything’ excuse my French. So was the response of the security agency in reaction to the violence from the crowd?” he added
The legislator discouraged the perpetuation of violence saying Ghanaians must hear from relevant persons on the matter. “But whatever be the case, violence is not the solution to whatever happened at Ejura. Am sure that the good people of this country deserve answers and questions are being asked left right and center. But like I said we should wait for the IGP and the army commander to respond to these,’ he averred.
By: Ernest Tetteh Kabu | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
