Ministerial Enquiry Into Ejura Brutalities Is Not Enough – Totobi Kwakye

A former Minister for National Security, Mr. Kofi Totobi Kwakye, has warned that the Ministerial Committee that the government has decided to set up to probe the shooting of protestors by military and Police personnel at Ejura may not be enough to assuage the anger of the youth.

In a statement, Mr. Totobi Kwakye said the government, which in the past has set up similar committees but virtually rubbished their recommendations should show more commitment to justice in this case.

“The President cannot hide behind perfunctory statements. He must show leadership and prove his sincerity by his actions. The scenes we witnessed on live television demand complete transparency and full accountability in the form of a credible investigation that the Ghanaian public can support and believe in,” Mr. Totobi Kwakye wrote.

“ A mere Ministerial inquiry does not meet the mark, as confidence in same is undermined by this administration’s nonchalant approach to past inquiries of that nature and subsequent refusal to accept, let alone implement, recommendations as was the case with the Emile Short Commission findings,” 

His statement follows President Akufo-Addo’s directive to Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, to set up a three-member committee to probe the Ejura violence.

Two people who had been demonstrating over the killing of Ibrahim Kaaka Mohammed, a social media activist who had dedicated himself to highlighting infrastructural problems in the Ashanti Region, died when Military and Police personnel deployed to control the crowd, shot into the demonstrators.

Some four others sustained various degrees of injury as a result of the gun violence at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.

“These crimes highlight, yet again, the increasing reliance on violence and brute force as a first resort on the part of this administration, as if we have learnt nothing from aspects of our past, we would rather not see repeated. Unfortunately, the latest violence is abetted by the same toxic combination of political intolerance, pervasive impunity, and fundamental dishonesty that was responsible for the maiming at Ayawaso West Wuogon and the killings at Techiman South,” said the former security capo.

He warned that the Akufo-Addo government’s penchant for using violence in response to criticisms and agitations from citizens is pushing the youth into a rage.