Ambrose Dery
The Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, has constituted a three-member committee to probe the mayhem that rocked Ejura in the Ejura/Sekyedumase District of the Ashanti Region, leading to the killing of two people.
The committee, which is expected to sit in public, will be chaired by Court of Appeal judge, Justice George Kingsley Koomson, with Security Analyst, Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, and the Executive Director of Penplusbytes, Juliet Amoah for civil society organisations while Marie Louise Simmons, a Principal State Attorney, will serve as secretary to the committee.
Some youth went on rampage in Ejura on Tuesday following the murder of a certain Ibrahim Mohammed aka Macho Kaaka, 45, said to be a social media commentator last Saturday, June 26.
Public Probe
On Wednesday, barely 24 hours after the deadly scenes, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo instructed the Minister of the Interior “to conduct, forthwith, a Public Inquiry into the circumstances that led to the unfortunate occurrences of Tuesday, June 29, 2021.”
A statement signed by Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications at the Presidency had said “the Interior Minister is to provide a detailed report from the inquiry, with recommendations for appropriate action, within ten days, i.e., by July 9, 2021, to President Akufo-Addo,” and expressed the President’s sadness over the turn of events and offered his condolences to the bereaved families.
Ejura Visit
Interior Minister, who announced this when he visited Ejura yesterday, said the committee will independently probe the happenings in Ejura and make their findings known in 10 days.
“In line with the President’s directive, I have set up a three-member ministerial committee to conduct a public inquiry into the unfortunate occurrences on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.” the minister said, adding “these individuals have trusted members of society, and we believe that we will meet the deadline given by the President and come out with the appropriate report and recommendations.”
The minister further said “the right to demonstrate is respected by the government. The only thing we expect is people who want to demonstrate will give notice; they are not asking for permission but notice because the government has a duty to protect all demonstrators so that no harm comes to them,” he said at the Ejura Palace, where he met the traditional leadership, adding “we are going to encourage that the right to demonstrate be exercised and the protection of police be provided.”
Violent Scenes
Macho Kaaka, was reportedly attacked by some unknown people and he died on Monday, June 28, at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, where he was receiving treatment.
Following the sudden death, the irate youth on Tuesday clashed with the military cum police on the streets of Ejura, leaving two more people (Abdul Nasir Yussif and Murtala Mohammed) dead and four others injured.
The four that got injured were first sent to the Ejura Government Hospital where two were treated and discharged but the others were referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi for further treatment.
Cemetery Return
Matters came to a head when the irate protesters who were returning from the cemetery after the burial of Macho Kaaka, started pelting stones at the few police personnel around.
They reportedly besieged the police station, vandalised some vehicles, and also blocked the Ejura-Atebubu highway, causing a gridlock.
The unprovoked attacks were rapidly getting out of hand, so it compelled the few policemen to flee the scene and call for reinforcement, and joint police and military team arrived quickly.
The security forces, who were armed to the teeth, then started to fire bullets to disperse the angry crowd, who were then destroying all ruling New Patriotic Party items in the Ejura township, leading to the shooting of six people, with two sudden deaths.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio