THE ASHANTI Regional Police Command has deflated news reports that a joint military-police team assaulted agitating students of the Kumasi Girls’ Senior High School (SHS) on campus on the night of July 19, 2021.
According to the police, there is no iota of truth in the reports, and asked the public to treat the ‘concocted’ reports with the contempt that they deserve.
In a press release, authored by the Ashanti Regional Police PRO, ASP Godwin Ahianyo, the police said that journalists who wrote the ‘false’ story, did so, perhaps intentionally, to tarnish the image of the police, urging those journalists to quickly do the ‘needful’ to ensure peace.
“The Ashanti Regional Police Command has monitored the media space and taken note of reports published by a number of media houses accusing the police and the military of assaulting students of Kumasi Girls’ SHS on the night of July 19, 2021. The reports are unfortunate, false and a fabrication,” the statement said, adding “the media houses who have published these false stories, the command would be grateful if you go back to the schools and ascertain the true facts,” he indicated, stressing that the police, with their professional training, could not stoop low to assault SHS students.”
The Police PRO added “we are also aware of some false videos purported to be that of the incident and advice the publishers to take these down or else, the command shall subject them to strict proof and failing, we shall take the necessary actions available.”
Setting Records Straight
ASP Ahianyo explained that the police around 9pm on the said day, received a distressed call that students of the Kumasi Girls and St. Louis SHS were demonstrating because school authorities would not allow them to go home for their mid-term holidays.
Armed with this vital information, he said police personnel from Suame were dispatched to Kumasi Girls, whilst police teams from the KNUST District and Manhyia Police, were also sent to St. Louis SHS to help restore law and order, which he said, the police did professionally.
According to ASP Ahianyo, the police team, which is made up of professionally trained men, used persuasive skills to calm down the agitating students in the two schools to restore orderliness, adding that authorities of the two schools have since thanked the police for their support.
The Police PRO therefore said the police were shocked to learn that some media practitioners have published stories that painted an erroneous impression that a joint military-police team had assaulted students of both schools.
“In both cases, the police were able to persuade the students to return to their dormitories and calm was restored in both schools thereafter. The respective heads of schools have been to the police to thank us for our prompt intervention and so we find it strange for anyone to report in the contrary,” the statement said.
ASP Ahianyo also described as false, reports that soldiers were part of the security personnel that were dispatched to quickly restore law and order in both schools, saying “it is also untrue that the military was involved in bringing the situation under control.
“The only military officers who were present at the Kumasi Girls SHS were part of a joint patrol team who were close to the school and had gone to verify what was happening,” assuring that the police would always use lawful means in the discharge of their crucial duties to the state.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi