The cheifs
and people of gbi-wegbe in the hohoe muncipality have called on the inspector
general of police, dr george akufo dampare and the police administration as a
matter of urgency, to set up a non-prejudiced committee to conduct an indepth
investigation into the operation by some personnel of the ghana police service
from the ho command which caused the death of a 29-year-old taxi driver,
bismarck charles opare.
In a press
conference addressed by togbe keh xii, chief of gbi-wegbe and left-wing chief
of the gbi traditional area, the chiefs, elders and residents demanded a full
report of the investigations to be made public within two weeks (4th
january, 2023) from the date of the press conference that is wednesday, 21st
december 2022.
Again, they
called on the police adminsitartion to deal with those found culpable of the
offence and also compensate adequately, the bereaved family of the deceased
young man.
Addressing
the press, togbe keh xii, narrated that, the barbaric incident occurred on
friday 9th december 2022 at about 11:30 pm at gbi-wegbe when a group
of Policemen stormed the town for reasons they do not know till date.
According to
him, the unprofessional manner in which the said policemen conducted themselves
resulted in the shooting and killing of the 29-year-old bismarck.
The said
bismarck, a taxi driver was returning from work thus met his untimely death.
“From our
preliminary investigations, we noted that, the set of policemen who came from
the ho command of the ghana police service were never assigned to carry out any
operation in gbi-wegbe”
“Moreover,
hohoe by the police administration structure/zoning has been given a regional
status with a substantive regional police commander administratively therefore,
any operation within its jurisdiction ought to be authorized by the hohoe
police commander or in the know by the regional police commander or the
divisional commander, hohoe. but this was never the case” togbe keh xii
lamented.
In his
address, togbe keh xii, said the questions on the lips of the people as
concerned citizens who are encouraged to speak and not as spectators are:
who
authorized the operation to be carried out at that hour? who was the leader of
the operation team? who authorized the release of the vehicles and weapons
used? who are the officers involved? who is the immediate superior in ho? to
whom have they reported the outcome of the operation to and where the booties
are? why the officers concerned have to shoot live bullets into a group of
unarmed civilians resulting in loss of human life?
According to
the chief, the police officers after gunning down the innocent taxi driver,
whisked off to an unkown destination pointing out to a notion that, the police
in uniform or otherwise engage in such operations under the guise of enforcing
the law only to end up enriching their individual pockets with monies extorted
from percieved suspects.
In view of this, the chiefs and people of gbi-wegbe have called for fairness and justice for the deceased and the bereaved family and also for peace to prevail.
story by: C
ollins Boateng
vov news