The Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu, says President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s silence on the military raid at Ashaiman means he tacitly endorsed brutalities meted out to the residents.
The President since the military raid on Tuesday dawn, March 7, 2023, following the murder of a soldier, Trooper Sheriff Imoro, on Saturday, March 4, 2023, has kept mute about the incident.
Lanchene Toobu says the President who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces will be undermining the country’s democracy if he indeed supported the raid by the armed military.
The lawmaker said much is expected of the Commander-in-Chief to firmly act and penalise the officers including the Military High Command.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Citi TV/FM’s the Big Issue, with Seloem Adonoo, the Wa West MP stated, “I expect the President to act, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and this is an operation that was sanctioned by the military high command. If the Commander-in-Chief thinks that the actions of the Military High Command have dented the image of the country and created a dent on our democracy and that their actions have embarrassed this country, I expect the President to take firm action to let the military know that this is absolutely wrong”.
He emphasised that, “but if he’s silent, it means that he tacitly endorsed what they did. And if that is the case, then the democracy that we set since Nana Addo took over in 2017, he’s just shifted the gear into reverse. That is exactly where we are going. What we are seeing could be seen in a military regime. We expect that after all these years both police and military brutalities will be reduced, after 30 years we shouldn’t be seeing this”.
The soldier, according to sources, was from Taifa and heading toward his residence at Zongo-Laka in Ashaiman when the unfortunate incident occurred.
Imoro Sheriff who was found dead in a pool of blood near the Amania Hotel in Ashaiman was laid to rest on March 9.
Though he was carrying a laptop and other electronic gadgets the attackers made away with only his iPhone.
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in a statement justified the brutalities adding that the raid was not to avenge the death of the soldier but to fish out perpetrators of heinous crimes.
GAF announced that its high command sanctioned the swoop. The military during the swoop arrested 184 suspects, but they were all later released by the military.
