Ejura: Was the soldier who squatted firing at bush rats or human beings? Prof Gyampo asks

Many have condemned the killing of two civilians at Ejura in the Ashanti Region during protests over the murder of a social media activist Ibrahim Muhammad Anyass, widely known on Facebook as Macho Kaaka.

The #FixTheCountry campaigner lost his life on Monday after a mob ambushed and launched a scathing attack on him over the weekend.

Irate youth from his neighborhood took to the streets on Tuesday, June 29 to demand justice immediately after he was laid to rest in accordance with Islamic custom.

But the military’s deployment to ensure calm led to the killing of two others whiles four others sustained injuries in the process.

Professor at the University of Ghana, Ransford Gyampo, thinks the officers must not be blamed too much. Shared his views on the incident in a long Facebook post.

“We must blame their mode of recruitment and training,” he wrote on Wednesday, June 30.

“Regimes would continue to suffer even more monumental embarrassments from unprofessional security forces, so long as recruitments into these agencies are politicized and based not on meritocracy.

“I was part of the 2000 Mobrowa Struggle and I played an active role, sometimes as the “Divine Drummer” for our group. We saw the professional manner with which the police and the soldiers handled us even when they had to physically stop us for being unruly.

“Who squats to shoot when demonstrations are on going? What was he aiming at? Human being or “beela”? Is that how to shoot to disperse? How was this soldier recruited? Who hired him? Who trained him? He is indeed a square peg in a round hole, wearing a military camouflage attire.”

He called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to personally intervene by firing some security capos and taking some back to school.

“The President may have to personally intervene to give the needed assurances, bring peace and finality to this impasse. The security agencies have lost credibility in the sight of the agitators and demonstrators.”