IGP George Akuffo Dampare
THE POLICE Administration has interdicted three top police officers in the Ashanti Region for their poor handling of the riots at the Islamic Senior High School (SHS) in Kumasi.
The affected officers include DCOP Akwasi Akomeah-Apraku, the Deputy Regional Commander, who has since been removed from his position and interdicted as well to pave way for proper investigations into the case.
The two other influential officers who have also been interdicted, included ACP George Ankomah, the Regional Operations Officer and ACP Alex Cudjoe Acquah, the Suame Divisional Police Commander.
The ordeal of the officers was announced in a police statement, issued to the press on Monday, June 13, 2022, few hours after the IGP George Akuffo Dampare, had visited the Islamic Senior High School for assessment.
The trio would know their fate after the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) conclude their full-scale investigations into what happened at the Islamic Senior High School on Monday, and handed over their report.
Authored by Chief Supt Grace Ansah-Akrofi, of the Police Public Affairs Directorate, the release stated that even though nobody was hit a bullet during the riots, the general handling of the issue by the police was not the best.
According to the police, initial checks have established that the angry students blocked the Abrepo Junction to Bohyen road, and also pelted police officers with stones, but the action of the students didn’t call for the firing of bullets.
Some of the students on hospital beds as Deputy Education Minister, Ntim Fordjour and Kumasi Mayor, Sam Pyne, wishing them speedy recovery
“Police investigations have so far established that today, Monday, June 13, 2022, some students of the Islamic School, Abrepo Kumasi, took to the streets, and blocked sections of the road to demonstrate against frequent motor traffic accidents in front of their school.
“The police responded to disperse the students and open the road to normal traffic flow. The students pelted the police with stones and the police used pepper spray and fired warning shots in an attempt to disperse them.
“It was further established that even though nobody was hit by a bullet, the police handling of the incident was poor and fell short of our standard operating procedure on crowd control,” the statement pointed out.
The release noted that police clinical psychologists have also been deployed to visit the school to offer psychosocial support to the student body, stressing that calm had been restored to the school.
IGP’s Visit
The statement also indicated that the IGP, George Akuffo Dampare, accompanied by some top police officers from the national headquarters, stormed the then troubled-school on Monday to personally assess the situation.
According to the report, the IGP’s entourage visited injured students who were on admission at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Suntreso Government Hospital and other facilities, to wish them speedy recovery.
Akuffo Dampare and his team also visited the Police Clinic in Kumasi, where some injured policemen, who were hit by stones and other objects, hurled at them by the angry students, to check how they were doing.
Minister’s Advice
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. Ntim Fordjour, who also stormed the Islamic SHS on Monday evening, has called for total calm in the school, especially as the case was being investigated by authorities.
“We would like to assure parents and guardians of the safety and security of their wards, as full academic work starts tomorrow Tuesday, June 14, 2022,” the minister said on behalf of his boss, Yaw Osei Adutwum.
The Ministry of Education, he said “would like to assure the public that all the affected students are responding to medical treatment and are in good condition,” adding that measures have been put in place to avert the reoccurrence of the riots.
Daily Guide Checks
In a related development, checks by the paper have revealed that a total of about 38 students of the Islamic SHS at Abrepo Junction, sustained injuries when the students and police clashed over the road blockade on Monday.
During the paper’s visit to some of the hospitals in Kumasi on Tuesday morning, about 22 students had been treated and discharged to join their colleagues on campus, as plans were in the pipeline to discharge the rest.
Furthermore, when the paper stormed the Islamic SHS around 11am on Tuesday, there was orderliness and calm in the school campus, as academic work was also ongoing in the various classrooms.
The paper was also reliably informed that most of the injured policemen, who were hit by stones, pelted at them by the rampaging students, were still on admission at the Police Clinic, responding to treatment.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi