While Ghana’s military is considered one of West Africa’s more stable and disciplined armed forces, some soldiers’ repeated actions are giving the army a bad name.
In mid-March, women, children, and the elderly in Bawku town said soldiers from the 11th Mechanized Battalion beat them up.
The battalion is stationed in the northern frontier town, located 744 kilometers (462 miles) from the capital, Accra, to monitor and deter a long-simmering chieftaincy and land ownership problem.
Local media reported that the incident occurred after a military officer was shot and killed by unknown gunmen.
‘Beating everybody is not justice’
“Men were attacked, women were attacked, old men were attacked and even their limbs broken, properties were destroyed,” Dr. Thomas Anaba, a local MP told DW.
“If a military officer is killed and you don’t have any idea who killed him, you don’t have to go around beating everybody, that is not justice,” he added.
Ghana’s President, John Mahama, has called for restraint among military personnel and condemned the killing of the soldier amid growing demands for an investigation.
However, retaliatory attacks by the military are not new in Ghana.
“Since the eruption of this conflict in Bawku, the military has had some negative encounters with the people,” Ibrahim Abode, a local reporter, told DW.
Growing number of attacks on civilians
In October 2023, the military brutalized some civilians in Bugri, Tempani and Garu, all in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Such attacks are not limited to remote rural regions.
Earlier, on March 7, 2023, the military conducted a raid in Ashaiman-Taifa, a suburb of Accra, according to the Ghana Armed Forces. But in the process, dozens were injured, and the widely publicized incident drew criticism.
Two years prior, on June 29, 2021, six Ghanaians were shot at Ejura in the Ashanti region after soldiers opened fire on protesters who were demonstrating against the killing of a youth activist.
Two days later, soldiers whipped residents of Wa in the Upper West Region with sticks and metal rods over the theft of a soldier’s mobile phone.
Security analyst Adib Sanni says perpetrators are rarely held accountable for their actions.
“When you look deeper, you realize a lot of the soldiers believe the uniform gives them immunity,” Sani told DW.
Calls for discipline and investigations
In most cases, the military unit retaliates when a civilian attacks a soldier.
“It is very worrying because gradually we are accepting this as a norm. It is very distressing because the practice is inconsistent with our [Ghanaian] laws,” Sanni added.
Lawmakers from six constituencies in the Upper East Region have called for an investigation and sanctions against the soldiers involved.
Neither the Ghana Armed Forces, the National Security Coordinator, nor the Defense and Interior Ministers had commented on the cases at the time of publication.
For security analyst Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, authorities must take immediate action to reverse the trend.
“We need to take new approach to dealing with incidents when they happen,” he told DW.
“There must be a transparent, standardized approach in dealing with such brutalities. We need to have a situation where soldiers are punished, and people sanctioned.”
Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu