DCOP Mensah Duku
In some jurisdictions, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander would have resigned from the law enforcement agency. His irresponsible remarks after the killing of seven persons under circumstances far from being clear set Kumasi ablaze yesterday.
As commander, we hold him responsible as citizens of this country, for the mayhem which erupted in the Garden City. He has obviously lost control of the situation. It is amazing that he could not foresee the nasty occurrence coming after his unconvincing justification for the cold-blooded murder of the seven persons.
His pointer at weapons found at the shooting scene as justification for the police action cannot pass a sense test and we ask him to come again. There is talk about the firearms he is referring to being related to an earlier crime elsewhere.
It is sad that a policeman was killed by some criminals but law enforcement agents must not react with vengeance in their minds when they lost a colleague to criminals. The moment they act this way, innocent lives would be lost and they too would have conducted themselves criminally.
In the coming days, we do not know how the matter is going to pan out in the Garden City but we are very sorry that the regional commander has put the IGP in a worrying situation and instead of shutting up he is justifying the murderous action.
There are fine police officers who are discharging their assignments creditably and this we acknowledge not so however with some trigger-happy young cops who must be supervised in all their actions especially when they are armed. These will lie through their teeth even when they are wrong in taking certain actions. It is the responsibility of commanders to ensure that their subordinates conduct themselves well.
It is for a reason that in the military, firing is done under orders as per firing control orders. A situation where there is a hasty conclusion that a set of persons are armed robbers and should therefore be eliminated as in the case of the Kumasi is as crude as it is uncanny.
Mr. Duku, were he a good commander, would have been measured in his remarks especially, shortly after the incident. Now that the Garden City has become restive, we wonder how he is going to handle the situation. Is he going to order the killing of more persons and claim they were armed robbers?
We repeat our call for an independent enquiry into the circumstances leading to the murder of the seven persons. Perhaps that way, Mr. Duku, who was nowhere near the shooting scene himself to know what really transpired, rather take hook, line and sinker what his men told him after the murderous shooting.
What befell the young men could happen to anybody that is why we are worried especially, as many have died at the hands of reckless cops.
Many questions must be posed and this can only be done when a commission of enquiry is constituted.
In our editorial of yesterday, we did call the attention of the authorities to the possibility of restiveness in Kumasi. The regional commander could not be bothered and now we are saddled with an avoidable security quagmire. It was a botched operation, a vengeful mission, and those behind it must answer for it, of course, the regional commander included.