Islamic SHS chaos: 'Never again!' - Ashanti Regional Minister

Authorities are racing with time to construct speed bumps on roads leading to the Islamic Senior High School, according to the Ashanti Regional Security Council, as it takes urgent steps to address recurrent pedestrian knockdowns in front of the school.

Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah who made this known when he visited the school after Monday’s clash, attributed the incident to poor communication.

“First of all, I wish to apologize to all of you, especially those who were rushed to the hospitals for the incident that happened yesterday (Monday). We could have avoided this incident if the communication had gone on rightly. I wish to tell you that yesterday was the first time I heard communication had gone requesting speed rumps in front of the school. The assurance we are going to give you today is that I will ensure that the urban roads will come and mount the speed rumps” Osei-Mensah said while commending the students for showing discipline in the midst of the troubling times.

The Minister who will not comment on the conduct of the police says the REGSEC was awaiting reports from key stakeholders for scrutiny.

“Fortunately nobody lost his or her life. We pray that this[incident]will never happen in any school and I urge every institution to get in touch with my office to get their issues resolved. It is too early to comment on the incident. We are taking reports from the Regional Director of Education and the Regional Police Command. When we get the report, it will inform us of the next line of action”, Osei-Mensah who is also the Chairman of the REGSEC told the press.

Almost all the injured students have been discharged. Even before construction begins, authorities have already laid ropes on that stretch to check for over-speeding.

What happened at Islamic SHS?

At least 30 students of the Islamic Senior High School in the Ashanti Region of Ghana were rushed to the hospital on Monday, June 13, after police allegedly opened tear gas on them while they were demonstrating over frequent road accidents in front of the school.

According to local media reports, the students had blocked the road in front of their school in the course of their protest over frequent knockdowns.

In their protests, the students lamented that frequent calls for speed ramps have fallen on deaf ears.

Police were called in to clear the roadblock and disperse the demonstrating crowd.

Some of the students were said to have gone unconscious and others were left with severe pain. It is however not clear if that is a result of the alleged firing of tear gas.

Senior police officers interdicted

Following public backlash, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare interdicted the deputy Ashanti regional commander DCOP Kwasi Akomeah-Apraku.

Two other senior officers ACP George Ankomah and ACP Alex Cudjoe Acquah, the Suame divisional commander were also interdicted after the IGP visited the school to sympathise with the students.

Parliament orders probe

The Speaker of Ghana’s parliament, Alban Bagbin, has since directed the Defence and Interior Committee to visit the IGP and the Ashanti Regional Police Command over the incident. He also directed the Committee to visit the Islamic SHS, the hospitals where the injured students have been admitted and see to their welfare and report back to the House next week Tuesday, June 21, 2022.

“I think that our security officers should not in such cases, be releasing police with live bullets on such situations. But if the Police are actually investigating the matter now, what we can do as a House is to immediately show concern. Let the Police know that we are awaiting their report and then after the report, we are entitled to take further action”, he noted.