Bagbin: We will not entertain police-military brutalities on civilians

“We will no longer tolerate police brutalities in the country,” Bagbin said. “Parliament is the center of this democracy in Ghana. The concept is very clear”

The Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament

The Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has directed parliament’s defense and interior committee to probe instances of military-police brutalities on civilians since 1993.

 

The Speaker gave the directive after the submission of a report by the defense and interior committee on the brutalities meted out to some civilians in Wa. The house expressed reservations over some aspects of the report and said it was not comprehensive.

 

“We will no longer tolerate police brutalities in the country,” Bagbin said. “Parliament is the center of this democracy in Ghana. The concept is very clear.”

 

“We will be forced to take stringent measures to curb this when it persists,” the Speaker said.

 

In agreeing with a suggestion by the Majority chief whip Frank Annoh Dompreh, the Speaker decided to broaden the scope to the beginning of the Fourth Republic to allow for a holistic probe and recommendations over the recurring problem.

 

Majority chief whip Dompreh added that “I didn’t know it’s part of the training template handed over to our recruits who go through military training. If it is, then probably we have to do assessment to realise whether indeed the kind of the training or the content of the training is enough.”

 

Red light

“Now we must put up that red light, for everybody to realise particularly those who serve in the military that you cannot take the law in your hands and misbehave anyhow thinking that if you look at our code of conduct you will be handed some 30 or 40 days detention and that will be all,” Dompreh said.

 

“On this occasion we must go beyond it, we must bare our teeth and send a signal clear to our colleagues and our compatriots that this country is a serious country. And as a law abiding country, if you fall foul of the law, the law will squarely deal with you, and will fall on your head as an axe.

 

“Mr. Speaker I speak to the motion that I am of the strongest view that we shouldn’t adopt it, the committee should go back and do a proper work so to speak add more to the recommendations and come back for us to take a decision on this matter,” he said.