One of the stories in this
edition makes disturbing reading. It is about a group of armed men in military
fatigues embarking on a midnight operation at Oshieye near Kokrobite, Accra, at
the behest of some appointees.
The relevant police
formations from the divisional to district commanders in the jurisdiction
concerned were not aware about the operation. The story has it that twenty-two
persons were arrested and taken to the police headquarters at the end of the
operation.
A typical ragtag militia
operation in the Congo comes to mind. This is Ghana anyway where such a
scenario does not belong. Not under our human rights studded President.
As we compose this
commentary, twenty of those arrested have had their freedom restored not
however the inconvenience and trauma they endured at the hands of security
operatives some of them masked according to the narrations of the victims. Perhaps
at the time of their ordeal, they thought they were under attack from armed robbers.
Whatever it was which
triggered the operation at that wee time of the night the action was crude and
not in tune with civilized practices. We condemn what happened at Oshieye and
demand that those behind the crude action are queried.
Such inappropriate
conducts have the tendency to create bad blood between the people and
government. Fortunately, government did not authorize the operation; some
appointees decided to do as they pleased an action consistent with abuse of
authority. After all, by their appointments appointees represent the President
and take actions which they deem proper on his behalf. Appointees whose actions
therefore affect negatively the image of the outstanding image of the President
must be stopped in their tracks.
The President won’t
certainly be amused with actions which do not conform to the rules of law. What
would have happened had the police division in whose jurisdiction the
unauthorized operation took place intervened arms et al? What if those who undertook the operation were
armed robbers who managed to lay hands on military fatigues?
Our Armed Forces are an important
institution of state whose image should be protected from such arbitrariness.
We are saddened that somebody can on his own decide to mobilize soldiers and
direct them to go and do as they did at Oshieye.
Actions such as the one
which occurred at Oshieye are part of the dark chapters of our local history
which should not under any circumstance be re-enacted.
Those who seek to protect their
ill-gotten lands should find other means of doing so. They should not drag our
government’s name into their mess. We are moving forward with an outstanding
good governance record and would not brook such arbitrariness. After detaining
the so-called suspects for the days that they did, what next? Reprehensible and
shameful!
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