General News of Wednesday, 21 July 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
2021-07-21
DCOP David Agyemang Adjem
• Ashanti Regional Police Command has denied allegations of assault at Kumasi Girls SHS
• DCOP Agyemang Adjem indicated it will be foolhardy for any officer to attack the girls at their dormitory
• The Ashanti Regional Minister says they will investigate the allegations
The Ashanti Regional Police Command has denied assaulting students of Kumasi Girls Senior High School (SHS) when they were deployed to restore calm in the school during a riot by the students on Monday evening when they were denied a mid-term break.
The student of Kumasi Girls SHS, in a report sighted online by GhanaWeb, had alleged that the joint police and military officials deployed to the school assaulted them even when they retreated to their dormitories.
“We broke veronica buckets but we didn’t destroy any other property. We were there and soldiers and police came around and started lashing us not with canes but with sticks. When you are even lying on your bed, they will pull you down and start caning us,” a student told JoyNews.
But the Acting Regional Police Commander, DCOP David Agyemang Adjem refuted claims by the students.
He explained to JoyNews that, “It will be foolhardy for any police officer or military man to go into a girl’s dormitory and attack them. No. I don’t think that is true. But the information I had is that the students had been unruly and had destroyed school properties.”
He added, “So we sent Operation Calm Life which is made of both police and military officers to go to the school. We went there and spoke to the students to quiet down and that is why we have calm in the school. If we had gone attacking them, I am sure they wouldn’t have gone to their dormitories,”
But Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, had stated that an investigation will be conducted into the claims because “per the briefing that I have been given this morning, I didn’t hear of any assault case. You know students when you even push them to go back, they will come back and say they have been assaulted.
