Simon Osei Mensah
THE ASHANTI Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, has stated that the deployment of the military at Ejura in the Ejura Sekyedumase District in the region, to quell violence, was the right security move.
According to the minister, the police crowd control team dispatched to the area to ensure law and order, as a result of the violence that broke out following the death of Ibrahim Mohammed aka ‘Macho Kaaka’, a social media activist, failed to deliver and the military reinforcement was needed to stem the tide.
Mr. Osei Mensah, who is the Head of the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEG), insisted that it therefore became necessary to send in the military and that had been done in accordance with the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, Act 1030.
He was the first to appear before the three-member committee under the chairmanship of Lordship Justice George Kingsley Koomson of the Court of Appeal yesterday.
The committee had been set up by the Minister of the Interior, Ambrose Dery, on the orders of President Akufo-Addo, to hold public inquiry into the disturbances in Ejura on Tuesday, June 29, which left two people dead and four others injured following the murder of Macho Kaaka.
Mr. Osei Mensah told the committee that as the usual practice, the police were first sent to Ejura to help restore law and order when the incident occurred, but added that unfortunately the angry youth, who he said were many, seemed to have overpowered the police personnel.
According to him, as a last minute decision to prevent the volatile situation from escalating further, the military personnel were sent to Ejura to offer support to the police.
Evidence Video
The minister then tendered in evidence, a video to justify his decision to deploy the military there.
In the video, a police water canon vehicle was being attacked by scores of angry people, who pelted the vehicle with stones and other objects.
The charged crowd were also seen racing after the vehicle even as it retreated.
Mr. Osei Mensah then reiterated that upon intelligence, it became clear that the military should be sent to Ejura to prevent nasty occurrences.
Video Drama
Drama unfolded when the REGSEC boss refused to disclose the source of the video, and also said he would not like to reveal the identity of the informant that had told the security agencies that the angry youth were trying to set the District Police Station ablaze.
He insisted that the identity of the informant needed to be protected, since the disclosure, could prevent others from giving them vital information in the region.
“My Lord chair, if I bring the person, it is going to make my management of security in this region difficult. It would mean that all I want to say is that, nobody should give me information or intelligence again. I have put all my numbers out there to the various radio stations that any time you have information, you can reach me on these numbers, and people voluntarily give me information and that is going to cease. I am afraid; it will seriously affect my management of security in this region,” Mr. Osei Mensah explained.
He said that “I took this decision in line with the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, Act 1030, and specifically Section 5 that establishes the Regional Security Council [REGSEC], and Section 6 that gives the membership of the council, and also makes the regional minister chairman of REGSEC, and Section 7 that gives the function of REGSEC which include maintenance of peace and security in the regions.”
The minister disagreed that the military should be prevented from assisting the Ghana Police Service in handling civil protests.
In-Camera Idea
After an argument over the video and the identity of the minister’s informant, the committee said it was ready to meet the said source in-camera later on.
The Ashanti Regional Minister then told the committee that he would discuss with his source if he/she was ready to testify in-camera.
Indiscipline
Asked by a member of the committee if he agreed that there was indiscipline in the country, the minister said “yes”.
Mr. Osei Mensah said “there are lots of indiscipline in the system because if it’s not indiscipline, how on earth should youth, some of them 10 years and 12 years be chasing (police) water cannon vehicles. “What we should do is that we, the people at the top of affairs, we should be very truthful to ourselves and say the truth regardless of the consequences.”
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi