Emile Short Probes Ayawaso Shootings

Emile Short

The government has set up a commission to probe the recent shootings between security personnel and some persons who were said to be sheltering in a house in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency during a by-election last Thursday.

The decision to probe the incident, which was restricted to the structure belonging to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate in the recent election in the electoral area, comes on the heels of calls by civil society organisations, opinion leaders and respectable persons in society.

A statement issued yesterday by the Director of Communications at Jubilee House – the seat of government – Eugene Arhin, announced that the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, with the consent of President Akufo-Addo, who is outside the country, had set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the violence which occurred during the by-election on January 31, 2019.

Members of the commission, according to the statement, are Justice Francis Emile Short, the former Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), who is to serve as Chairperson; Prof. Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, former Dean of Law Faculty, University of Ghana and Patrick K. Acheampong, former Inspector General of Police (IGP).

It added that Ernest Kofi Abotsi, former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and private legal practitioner has been appointed as secretary to the commission.

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference of the commission, the statement indicated, are to make a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the circumstances of, and establish the facts leading to the events and associated violence during the by-election.

It is also to identify any person responsible or involved in the events, associated violence and injuries.

It stated that the commission is also to inquire into any matter which it considers incidental or reasonably related to the cause of the events and the associated violence and injuries and submit within one month its report to the President, giving reasons for its findings and recommendations, including appropriate sanctions, if any.

Calls

The Ayawaso shooting incident which occurred on that fateful day at the residence of the candidate of the NDC, Dellali Kwasi Brempong, according to the Ghana Police, left six persons injured after they reportedly sustained gunshot wounds.

The victims, the police explained, were sent to the Legon and 37 Military hospitals for medical attention.

The incident attracted widespread condemnation from the public, with calls on government to constitute an inquiry into the shootings.

Pressure Group OccupyGhana specifically asked government to constitute what it termed as ‘a proper commission of inquiry under Chapter 23 of the Constitution to inquire into the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.

OccupyGhana, in a statement, explained that the inquiry was necessary because “no person or group of persons should be allowed to destroy our reputation, disrupt our peace and denigrate the pillars of civility we have worked so hard to achieve.”

By Melvin Tarlue

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