The Minister for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul has appeal to the general public to respect men in uniform.
In a brief remark to journalists in Parliament on Thursday he argued that in the quest to shape society there are bound to be these types of problems referring to the Ashaiman incident.
“I will appeal to the people of Ghana to be very respectful of people in uniform. It will help all of us. But I will not say anything until the Committee and us have gone to the place on Thursday. To ascertain for ourselves.
“One of the reasons we are not going there now is that investigation is still on-going. We don’t want to compromise whatever investigations that will happen,” Mr. Nitiwul stated.
However, Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee has interrogated the military hierarchy over brutalities meted out on residents of Ashaiman by some soldiers.
The committee has consequently resolved to visit the community on Thursday in the company of the Defence Minister and the military hierarchy in an attempt to secure peace with the residents.
Speaking to the media after the meeting Chairman for the Committee, Kennedy Agyapong conceded the military personnel deployed engaged in excesses.
“On behalf of the Committee we want to sympathize with the bereaved, the young soldier’s family and the affected victims. Those who were innocently beaten, they were not part of it. Unfortunately, they got to a scene where they were not. I heard some of them were in their various homes and they knocked when they came out they were beaten.
“I think we have to admit as human beings that there were excesses and therefore we sympathize with the people of Ashaiman. At the same time we also sympathize with the Ghana Armed Forces for our young men taking the law into their own hands to kill one of theirs,” Mr. Agyapong stated.
He continued: “But in a situation like this all we can say is that we need peace. We as members of the committee cannot inflame passion by going there to make comments that will annoy the faction, we are not to do that. Our mission is to have peace in this country.”
