Too much bloodletting - MPs
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 June 2002- Members of Parliament on Tuesday asked security agencies to be more professional in their day to day activities since there had been too much blood shed due to their carelessness lately. Mr Joe Gidisu, NDC-North Tongu, had read a statement in the House on the brutalities and extremities arising out of the Police and Military patrols.
The member's statement came at a time when the anti-armed robbery drive was being questioned following the murder in cold blood of four members of the Taifa Neighbourhood Watchdog Committee in Accra over the weekend. He said: "It has come to be established that the activities and behaviours of some of the security personnel engaged on these patrols have left sour taste in the mouths of some of the citizenry."
The member alleged that on 31 May, a patrol team at Odorkor, in Accra, killed a man and brutalised his friends, who had just arrived in Accra from Mafi Deveme in the Volta Region. He said the security personnel would not listen to anyone as they killed, kicked and hauled them into Police cells on mere suspicion of being criminals.
Mr Gidisu mentioned the dead as Agor Adzewoda and said one KplorlaAdzorze, who was in his company, was languishing in Police cells under questionable circumstances. Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, NDC-Gomoa West, said there had been too much bloodshed in the country through the recklessness of the security agencies
She asked government to protect the ordinary Ghanaian from criminals and over-zealous security men. Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, NPP- New Juabeng North, said the mistakes of the Police should not be seen as incompetence but rather lessons to guide the min future operations. Ms Hawa Yakubu, NPP-Bawku Central, called on the Minister of the Interior to report to the House the activities of the Police and brutalities they have allegedly committed.
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