General News of Wednesday, 9 October 2019

Source: peacefmonline.com

Otchere-Darko, Okudjeto Ablakwa angry over Ghana Police Service

IGP Joseph Oppong-Boanuh IGP Joseph Oppong-Boanuh

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is 'angry' over the “needless and shameless” use of force on law students who protested on Monday.

The Police have come under heavy attack for using force on law students who were protesting and demanding reforms at the Ghana School of law.

Their dream of presenting a petition to the President at the Jubilee House in Accra was cut short after the police used rubber bullets, water to disperse them.

According to the police, their demonstration was 'illegal'.

The President of the Ghana School of Law, Jonathan Alua, and nine other law students were arrested but were subsequently released.

Reacting to this on facebook, Gabby wrote: This is disgraceful! The IGP and his Regional commander must explain this needless and shameful, excessive use of force.

In another post, he wrote; ‘Incredible! Inexcusable…I am angry

Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, on the other hand, wrote: Impunity will continue as long as perpetrators are not punished and as long as the rest of us remain silent. The law students who protested today deserve far more than our sympathies; they are entitled to swift justice. Just too many victims, enough of the senseless abuse of force!

NPP Condemns

Meanwhile, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned the use of force by the Police on the protesting law school students.

A statement signed by the General Secretary of the governing party, John Boadu, stated that “while we accept the position of the Police that the demonstrators may have strayed outside the law, and were disrupting the normal usage of the public thoroughfare that passes in front of Jubilee House, we are, however, not convinced that the Police had to resort to such use of force and crowd controlling techniques to manage a crowd, mainly of students. The police must realize that, just like every other Ghanaian, they are also subject to law and ought to give confidence to the populace at all times that, in applying the law, they do so fairly to all manner of persons.”