Army Commander Defends Soldier Seen Shooting Into Ejura Crowd

The soldier who was seen kneeling and pointing his gun at the crowd of demonstrators in Ejura did not shoot into the crowd, even though he had assumed a shooting position and his gun appeared to have come off, claims the Commanding Officer of the 4 Battalion, Lt Col Kwasi Ware Peprah.

Lt. Col. Peprah claimed, during an appearance before the three-member committee that the government has set up to investigate the Ejura shooting incident.

“There is a procedure in dispersing crowds. The first is a verbal warning; the second is to cock your weapons to signal to the crowd that ‘you are about to fire’, and the third is to fire warning shots. But the signal to scare them includes the kneeling,” Lt Col Peprah explained.

He added, “As a matter of fact, the direction of the man who knelt was such that no casualty came from that side. He didn’t fire. He fired only warning shots, but when he went down, he did not fire.”

That soldier’s position and the manner he pointed his gun has stirred up speculation that he may have been responsible for at least one of the shooting incident that killed two young men who were returning from the burial of another Ejura resident who was lynched by a mob allegedly linked to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Meanwhile, live videos captured during the incident showed at least two soldiers shoot directly into the crowd. As a result, two persons were killed while at least four others were injured and hospitalized.

The demonstrators had been protesting the earlier killing of a social media activist, “Macho Kaaka” who had been linked to the youth movement calling for a better Ghana-#FiXTheCountry.

Following the incident, Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery set up the 3-member Committee to probe the shootings which have outraged the nation.

The committee members include George Kingsley Koomson, Justice of the Court of Appeal as Chairman, Security Expert, Dr. Vladimir Antwi Danso, Juliet Amoah, Executive Director of Penplusbyte, and a civil society organization.