The Regent of Ashaiman, Nii Annang Adzor, and six others have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Bagbin to adopt the report of its Defence and Interior Committee which investigated circumstances leading to the invasion of military personnel of the town on March 7, 2023.
According to Nii Adzor and co, any further delay in implementing the recommendations of the Committee will amount to denying the victims, justice.
“Sir, the said committee has concluded its works and has made recommendations to the House for adoption as captured at pages I 1 and 12 of the said report and same attached herein. The victims of the military brutalisation, the regent and residents of Ashaiman humbly request that for the interest of Justice, the House should adopt the said committee’s report as well as its recommendations timeously, since Justice delayed is Justice denied,” portions of the petition dated February 1, cited by 3news.com read.
It would be recalled that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, last year tasked its Defence and Interior Committee to investigate circumstances leading the invasion of Ashaiman, a suburb of Accra, by military personnel.
Findings of the Defence and Interior Committee on invasion of Ashaiman by soldiers
The soldiers’ action was occasioned by the killing of one of their colleagues, Trooper Imoro Sherif, in the town on March 7, 2023.
The attack by the soldiers resulted in the injury and death of some residents.
After investigating, the parliamentary committee submitted its report, cosigned by the Vice Chairperson of the Committee, Mrs Ophelia Mensah Hayford and a Senior Assistant Clerk, Gifty Jiage-Gobah, in November 2023.
It recommended among others, that, “Persons brutalised by the Military in Ashaiman on 7th March, 2023, and who sustained various degrees of injury should be promptly and adequately compensated by the State. The compensation must be extended to cover those persons whose properties were destroyed in the course of the Military swoop.”
However, three months after the Defence and Interior Committee submitted its report, no action has been taken, hence the petition.
