IT has been described as barbaric the way and manner some police officers in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region handled jubilant students of Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI) last week. The said distasteful scene occurred on Valentine’s Day (Tuesday, February 14, 2014), a day that we were expected to show love towards one another.
ACCORDING to reports, some KTI students while returning from the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Kumasi, following their success in the Inter-schools Competition in the region, blocked portions of the Amakom-WAEC road. That development, the reports continued, caused serious disruption to traffic and which also disturbed the peace in the area.
CONSEQUENTLY, the Ashanti Regional Police Command dispatched some officers to go and maintain law and order. We are told that on reaching the scene of the disturbance the law enforcers fired gunshots and tear gas because the students were resisting and also pelting them with stones.
NOT satisfied with the conduct of the students, the police officers reportedly stormed the school’s dormitories, damaged windows and doors as well as manhandled any student who came their way. In the process over twenty students were hospitalised with many having bruises on various parts of their bodies.
SINCE that unfortunate incident the Police administration has received loads of flaks, with some even calling on the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), David Asante-Appeatu, to launch a full-scale investigation into the matter, and when it is established that indeed those officers acted unprofessionally, sanctions should be applied.
MUCH as Today is against any form of vandalism by students or any other Ghanaian for that matter, we however find the conduct of the law enforcers quite worrying. It is worrying because clearly the police officers were bent on sending only one message to the students—that we will show you where power lies!
IF that is not the case then what on earth will compel police officers to storm a school and instead of just arresting students who have fallen foul of the law will end up destroying school properties and inflicting severe harm on harmless students?
WE therefore condemn the police officers involved for using excessive brute force on the students. We equally support the call by a section of the Ghanaian populace that the acting IGP should launch an investigation into the matter.
WE know that the police are expected to maintain law and order. But then that mandate is not a license for them to visit mayhem on citizens, especially at the slightest provocation. A probe into the matter is necessary as it would help us know the facts surrounding the matter.
FOR now we are waiting for your call, Mr. Acting IGP.
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