A conflict resolution expert, Austin Gamey, has said the recently constituted three-member committee put together by the Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, on the orders of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to investigate the Ejura disturbances that led to the death of three people, can only find facts but not resolve the tension.
“They are fact-finding people, they are not conflict resolution people,” Mr. Gamey told Ewura Karim Adam on the maiden edition of Class91.3FM’s ‘Talk of The Nation’ program on Monday, 5 July 2021.
He added that: “They are not going to resolve the conflict, they are only on to do fact-finding: Who did what? Who ordered what? When did they do it? What time? What did the people do? Etc. It’s just a rigmarole; running around the issue and putting it down on paper; long English grammar will be said but as to resolving the matter, they cannot resolve it.”
The committee members include Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice George Kingsley Koomson, who chairs it.
The others are Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, a researcher in the fields of international political economy, conflict, security and terrorism, with about thirty years’ teaching experience at the university and currently the Director of Academic Affairs, Ghana Armed Forces’ Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), Otu Barracks, Accra, Ghana; and the Executive Director of. Penplusbytes, Juliet Amoah.
Marie Louise Simmons, a principal state attorney, will serve as secretary to the committee.
Mr. Dery announced the names when he visited Ejura on Thursday, July 1 2021.
Speaking at the Ejura chief’s palace after visiting the families of the bereaved and injured, Mr. Dery said: “In line with the president’s directive, I have set up a three-member ministerial committee to conduct a public enquiry into the unfortunate occurrences on Tuesday, 29 June 2021.”
“These individuals are trusted members of society, and we believe that we will meet the deadline given by the President and come out with the appropriate report and recommendations,” Mr. Dery said.
President Nana Akufo-Addo instructed Mr. Dery to conduct a public inquiry into the circumstances that led to the shooting and killing of two protesters at Ejura on Tuesday, 29 June 2021 while they demanded justice for lynched social media activist, Ibrahim Kaaka Mohammed.
A statement signed by the Director of Communications at the Office of the President, Eugene Arhin, on Wednesday, 30 June 2021, said the Interior Minister is to provide a detailed report from the inquiry, with recommendations for appropriate action, within ten days; that is by 9 July 2021, to President Akufo-Addo.
The president, the statement said, is deeply saddened by the deaths of Ibrahim Mohammed, alias Kaaka, Abdul Nasir Yussif and Murtala Mohammed.
He extended his condolences to the families of the deceased and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
The commotion at Ejura happened following the burial of Kaaka at the Mempeasem cemetery.
Some irate youth, after his burial, blocked the main Ejura Atebubu road, thus, impeding traffic flow to demonstrate for justice.
The police moved in with military reinforcement to quell the situation but the irate youth, according to the police, charged on the security personnel with all manner of implements, including firearms, clubs, machetes and stones.
The security officials fired into the crowd killing two and injuring seven.
Some Ghanaians took to social media to condemn the security personnel.
Meanwhile, some 21 CSOs under the umbrella ‘Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Working Towards the Promotion of Good Governance, Human Rights and Public Accountability in Ghana’, have expressed reservations about President Nana Akufo-Addo’s referral of the lethal disturbances in Ejura to Mr. Dery for a probe.
The group is made up of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), African Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA),
Parliamentary News Africa, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA),
African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and Financial Accountability and Transparency – Africa (FAT-Africa).
The others are Citizens Movement against Corruption (CMaC),
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI – Africa), Centre for Local Governance Advocacy (CLGA), Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG),
IMANI GHANA, WILDAF Ghana, SEND Ghana and West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI).
The rest are ISODEC, Youth Bridge Foundation, Legal Resource Centre (LRC), International Budget Partnership and STAR-Ghana Foundation.
The group said: “While we commend the president for directing swift investigations into this matter, we are concerned that the use of the Interior Ministry in conducting investigations into matters which involve agencies acting under the authority of the Ministry may compromise the fairness and integrity of its findings”.
It noted: “The Ministry for the Interior, which may have been complicit in the handling of this unfortunate incident at Ejura Sekyedumase, cannot be judges in their own cause”.
“It is only proper that an independent body conducts investigations into this matter”, the CSOs suggested.
In this respect, the coalition said “we call on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), under whose mandate this matter, which involves excessive abuses of human rights squarely falls, to thoroughly investigate this incident and cause the criminal prosecution of all persons found culpable”.
Read the coalition’s full statement below:
PRESS STATEMENT
July 2, 2021
By: The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Working Towards the Promotion of Good Governance, Human Rights and Public Accountability in Ghana
On Tuesday, June 29, 2021, two (2) persons, identified as Abdul Nasir Yusif and Murtala Mohammed, were reportedly shot and killed by security forces when the youth of Ejura Sekyedumase in the Ashanti Region were protesting the brutal murder of Ibrahim Mohammed alias ‘Kaaka’, a community activist mobilizing with the #FixtheCountry movement, by as-yet unknown assailants.
Four (4) other persons were also severely injured as a result of the brutal force used by security forces.
A video of the protest captured live and broadcast by the Multimedia Group shows military personnel, upon arrival at the scene, fired warning shots into the air and then took aim at the protesters, firing live rounds into the crowd and reportedly killing the two protesters and injuring four others.
The Minister for the Interior has since constituted a three-member committee to investigate the unlawful killings and related matters, upon the instruction of President Akufo-Addo.
The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Working Towards the Promotion of Good Governance, Human Rights and Public Accountability in Ghana expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wishes the injured speedy recovery.
We are appalled at this development and condemn the excessive and brutal use of force by security officers deployed to the area, particularly the firing of live rounds at protestors who were only exercising their constitutional right to protest the unsolved murder of their compatriot.
This unfortunate incident, and many others in the recent past, point to a long-standing, systemic and recurring problem in how state security agencies handle protests in this country.
The undemocratic exercise of police powers and the unwarranted brutal use of force by the police and the military who are too eager to display machismo often result in needless fatalities and injuries; the Ejura Sekyedumase matter being a case in point.
We are also deeply troubled by the frequent deployment of the military in internal security matters of the country and urge the Commander-In-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and the National Security hierarchy to reassess when and how to deploy military personnel.
By constitutional design, the Ghana Police Service is responsible for the maintenance of internal security and it should remain so until the need arises.
While we commend the president for directing swift investigations into this matter, we are concerned that the use of the Interior Ministry in conducting investigations into matters which involve agencies acting under the authority of the Ministry may compromise the fairness and integrity of its findings.
The Ministry for the Interior, which may have been complicit in the handling of this unfortunate incident at Ejura Sekyedumase, cannot be judges in their own cause.
It is only proper that an independent body conducts investigations into this matter.
In this respect, we call on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), under whose mandate this matter, which involves excessive abuses of human rights squarely falls, to thoroughly investigate this incident and cause the criminal prosecution of all persons found culpable.
We also urge all persons acting in the public space (including journalists) to be circumspect in their language in describing or reporting on this unfortunate incident.
The tendency to mischaracterize and, perhaps, trivialize such sensitive and critical national issues often do not help in ascertaining the facts of what may have actually happened.
We urge the youth of Ejura Sekyedumase, and, indeed, all Ghanaians to remain calm.
We must all exercise restraint and not to engage in any acts of violence as investigations continue, in order to bring to justice all those responsible for the unlawful killings and injuries of our compatriots.
As a follow-up to this statement, the Coalition is working actively to secure a meeting with the government and the security hierarchy to engage on how best to manage the twin challenges of securing and policing the right to protest as well as the use of the army for policing work. We will keep the public informed of our efforts.
Thank you.