Two Members of Parliament have lodged a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) against the killing of innocent Ghanaians by personnel of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces during the 2020 general elections.
They want disciplinary actions and prosecutions taken against the officers who took the lives of the innocent Ghanaians without just cause.
Messrs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MPs for North Tongu and Ellembelle Constituency in the Volta and Western Regions said that the respondents in the complainant, who are the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces failed the country in discharging their respective constitutional duties.
The complaint, filed by their counsel, Cosmas Anpengnuo of the Bayong Law Consult, was restricted to four constituencies, namely Techiman South, Odododiodio, Ablekuma Central, and Savelugu constituencies in the Bono East, Greater Accra and Northern Regions of the Republic of Ghana respectively.
The lawmakers provided medical reports and videos as evidence of the brutalities meted out to the victims who went about peacefully to exercise their constitutional rights on December 7, 2020.
The complainants said that during the general elections held on December 7, 2020, the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces established a National Election Security Taskforce (NESTF) to support the effort to ensure smooth and transparent conduct of the said elections.
They noted that “this was necessary for purposes of safeguarding the democratic values and principles of free and fair elections.”
Measrs Ablakwa and Buah said this effort was also necessary to provide citizens of the Republic of Ghana including voters with security during the conduct of the elections.
Apart from the NESTF, there were other members of the Police Service and Ghana Armed Forces who played diverse roles during the period of the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
According to the lawmakers, the complaint relates to the manner in which the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces discharged their constitutional and statutory mandates in the constituencies mentioned above.
In the case of the Ghana Armed Forces, the MPs noted that their conduct in furtherance of the purpose of the NESTF did not promote the development of Ghana as prescribed by article 210(3) of the 1992 Constitution, as their conduct caused damage to life, limb and property.
Regarding the Ghana Police Service, the legislators said the manner in which they carried out their functions to further the purpose of the NESTF undermined their constitutional obligation under article 200(3) of performing their “traditional role of maintaining law and order.”
Mr Ablakwa and his colleague urged the CHRAJ to use its constitutional mandate to investigate the conduct of the security officers complained about in the instant petition in a timeous manner for justice to prevail for the victims and their families.
“It is instructive to note that the Ministers holding the portfolios of Defence and Interior, as well as the Chief of Defence Staff [with two other members of the Armed Forces] and the Inspector-General of Police [also with two other members of the Police Service] are members of the National Security Council. See article 83(1)(c), (d) and (e) of the 1992 Constitution.”
They stated that the functions of the National Security Council include among others considering and taking appropriate measures to safeguard the internal security of Ghana and indeed ensuring the collection of information relating to the security of Ghana and the integration of the domestic security policies relating to it so as to enable the security services and other departments and agencies of the Government to cooperate more effectively in matters relating to national security. See article 83(2)(a) and (b) of the 1992 Constitution.
In the case of Techiman South constituency, the complainants said that about 3:00 pm on December 8, 2020, armed officers attacked, violently abused, and in some instances killed civilians in the Techiman South constituency.
They said the victims were unarmed civilians who had turned out peacefully in front of the Brokyepem Hall close to the Municipal Assembly to exercise their franchise.
In respect of Odododiodio constituency, the complainants said that the uniformed officers employed unreasonable and unjustifiable force in the discharge of their functions by discharging tear gas and apprehending persons who were resident in a hotel known as Modak Hotel at the Bombay Korle Wonkon area and against whom no crime was alleged.
In the Savelugu Constituency two young persons, namely 14 years old Samira Zakaria, and 15 years old Fuseini Musah were shot and killed without any provocation.
At Odorkor Police Church Collation Centre, in the Ablekuma Central constituency Mr Buah and Mr Ablakwa said 30 years old Ibrahim Abbas was shot dead, while a level 300 student journalist at the Ghana Institute of Journalism by name Pious Kwanin Asiedu was also shot and injured.
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
