The recent Islamic SHS shooting; an introspective case in relation to the role of Ghana Police Service

Alhassan Aboagye writes;

1. I think it is about time something substantial is done in the Ghana Police Service to eradicate for once, or reduce to the barest minimum, the misconduct and the unprofessionalism surging in the aforementioned state institution, a very crucial sector in the development of the state.

2. Is the Police Service's fundamental obligation to maintain peace and order, as

Read full article.stated in Article 200(3) of the 1992 Constitution, being fulfilled these days?

3. What do the laws of the state say about public processions and demonstrations? Art 21(1)(d) of the 1992 constitution provides that “All persons shall have the right to…freedom to take part in processions and demonstrations. Also, in NPP v A-G, the Supreme Court unanimously held that "no police authorization is required before holding public meetings and demonstrations...though they must be carried out subject to the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 30)".

4. Though, not by the foregoing defending the actions of some students at Islamic SHS in demonstrating to express their displeasure with the frequent pedestrian crashes in front of their school [including a female teacher who was knocked down a few days ago], but I beg to ask "has the police intervention helped to maintain law and order, or has it rather aggravated the plights of the students and, by extension, the school, and even some conceit?

5. Inevitable and Undeniable! The students erred in embarking on the demonstration since the available procedures had not been exhausted, though they had made a plea to the city authorities - a request to which the said authorities had given a deaf ear!

6. I am not a security expert, but how justifiable would this be -even to a layperson like myself- for a police officer [a public servant employed to maintain peace and order] to fire live bullets and teargas in the midst of secondary school children even when his colleague police officers in collaboration with the aforesaid school had succeeded in calming the situation by driving the school children back to campus, to the point of moving into students’ dormitories?

7. If my memory serves me right, this counts as the fourth over a period of about twelve months of such misconduct perpetrated by some unprofessional and disloyal police officers -following the Ejura Shootings, in June 2021 where two persons died and eight persons sustained injuries, the Lamashegu Shootings(February 2022) where 1 death and 9 injuries were recorded and the Nkoranza Shootings in May 2022, just a month ago, where two persons died and 4 others sustained injuries. How appalling this is!

8. How far and how effectively have these issues been resolved? Is the Ejura case not old enough for real justice to be served if not for all of them?

9. Was the report by the Justice Koomson Committee effectual enough to punish accordingly persons who engaged in that ‘mess’?

10. It is my considered view that if tight, logical, and effectual punitive measures were taken in the earlier cases, they would serve as a great and enough deterrence to prevent these subsequent ones.

11. I, therefore, call on the Police Council and other stakeholders responsible for maintaining law and order in Ghanaian society to collaboratively and urgently develop stringent punitive measures to be meted out to the perpetrators of this current case, in order to avoid, as far as possible, any such terrible event perpetrated by some unethical members of the reputable Ghana Police Service

Long live Ghana????????
Long live Ghana Police Service????‍♀️