The Minister of Defense Dominic Nitiwul has indicated that soldiers who were seen in a viral video brutalizing civilians in Wa on July 1, 2021 will not go unpunished.
The Minister said, it was uncharacteristic for members of the Ghana Armed Forces to put up such a behavior against the very people they are supposed to protect, while assuring that the Ghana Armed Forces is set to activate a set of disciplinary measures against those involved as soon as an internal investigation is completed.
The Defense Minister’s position confirmed and support the press statement from the Communication Bureau of the Ghana Armed Forces a day after the incident.
Mr. Nitiwul explained that the Ministry has already set up an internal committee from the National Security, from the Defense Intelligence and other persons with knowledge on the matter to visit Wa and find out exactly whether there are other remote causes, adding that “Because, it is simply not a military culture to just move into a town to molest people. It is not something I have heard before”.
He narrated that according to briefings he received, the soldier’s invasion on the Wa township was triggered by a report by one of their colleagues that he had been robbed of his phone and money at knife point in the town. In solidarity, they marched up to the town heavily and took it hostage it. They descended heavy beatings on anyone they set their eyes on in the town, injuring many of them.
According to him, this incident was really unfortunate because it was not sanctioned by the Regional Minister or the commanding Officers; neither was it sanctioned by anybody in Accra.
“It was a spontaneous reaction of some young men and women of the Armed Forces who moved to town to do that with some trigger they felt was the issue,” he explained.
