Dr. Mensah Manye, Medical Superintendent of the Ejura Government Hospital, has said he was compelled to release the bodies of the two civilians who were shot during a violent protest at Ejura on June 29.
He told the Ministerial Committee probing the circumstances that led to the shooting that he took that decision to save the lives of the workers and the facility from being burnt by the angry youth.
He said the youth who had besieged the facility after the victims had been rushed there, threatened to burn down the facility if he refused to release the bodies of those who had died immediately to them for burial.
Dr. Manye said the crowd was so huge and agitated that there was nothing he could do under the circumstance but to release the bodies, “to save the hospital from being burnt and the lives of the workers including myself.”
He said though there are protocols to follow in such situations before bodies are released, the threats by the youth and the tension in town forced him to release the bodies.
The Medical Superintendent said close examinations on the bodies of the deceased and the injured indicated that the shots were fired from a distance and the bullets penetrated from the back of the victims.
He said two of the injured were referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) while the other two were treated and discharged.
He stated that six relatives of the deceased, all women, who also collapsed were rushed to the hospital and were resuscitated.
Dr. Manye stressed the need to increase the number of Police personnel in the Ejura Township and equip them with adequate logistics and training to enable them to handle such situations.
Meanwhile, three persons have been remanded by the Asokwa District Court following their alleged involvement in the murder of Ibrahim Mohammed, also known as Kaaka, 45, a social media activist, whose death sparked the violent protest at Ejura.
Issakar Ibrahim, also known as Anyas, Fuseini Alhassan, and Iddi Mohammed, the brother of Kaaka, are facing Two charges – conspiracy to commit crime and murder.
The three-member Ministerial Committee investigating the Ejura disturbances is chaired by Justice George Kingsley Koomson, a Court of Appeal Judge, with Mr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, a security analyst, and Ms. Juliet Adiema Amoah, Executive Director of Penplusbyte, a civil society organization, as members.
The sittings, which started on July 6, are held at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi.