Parliament has directed an inquiry into the killing of five alleged armed robbers by the police at Bortianor Hills, in Accra, on June 8, this year.
The Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, which has been tasked to probe the alleged killings, would be joined by the leadership of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the House.
The joint committee is expected to present its report to the plenary of the House by the end of this month.
Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament and MP for Fomena, Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah, who gave the directive at yesterday’s sitting of the House, in Accra, said the joint committee’s report would enable the House to take appropriate decision on the killings and end the incident of police-citizen clashes.
The directive was occasioned by a statement made on the floor by the NPP MP for Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfro, Sylvester Tetteh, who called for a probe into circumstances surrounding the gunning down of five persons by the police.
According to the MP, “this incident has brought uneasy calm in the community.”
Mr Tetteh indicated that though there have been rampant land guard activities in and around the area and constant harassment of residents and builders alike, the murdered people were not known to be involved in ‘land guardism.’
He said: “reports from the family, friends and those with knowledge of these individuals have refuted the police allegations that these men were involved in land guard activities.”
Mr Tetteh explained that the chiefs and residents were aware of the daily collection of tolls as part of arrangement pertaining to sand winning activities in the area.
He said “however, this daily collection of tolls does not sit well with other claimants of the same land that has led to long protracted land dispute which people believe is a remote cause of this unfortunate incident.
Mr Tetteh said: “Mr Speaker, on behalf of my constituents, we are calling on Parliament to institute an inquiry into the matter because the chiefs and people of Bortianor and Kokrobite have rejected the claim by the police.”
He appealed to the people of Bortianor, Kokrobite and its surrounding areas to be calm and continue to be law abiding and allow the “competent agencies to take up the matter and ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the incident.”
Ranking Member on the Interior Committee and NDC MP for Builsa North, Mr James Agalga, said the police did not have the authority to shoot and kill the victims even if they were land guards.
“The proper thing that ought to have been done in this circumstance was for the police to have attempted to apprehend the suspects because our criminal jurisprudence is grounded on the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a court,” he said.
The police, Mr Agalga said, was fortified with the requisite laws to prosecute the alleged criminals.
He said that “the killing of suspects had become one too many” hence the need for circumstances surrounding the killing of the five suspects be probed.
The NPP MP for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, said the call for a parliamentary probe was spot on because police service inquiries in the past have been “self serving” and that this matter must not be left to the police.
The victims of the Bortianor killing include Abraham Tetteh Wayo, aka Brother; Augustine Neequaye, aka Dada Joe; Daniel Neequaye, Joseph Amankwanor and an unidentified steel bender, all citizens of the Bortianor area
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
