The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) says it has not issued any report clearing 23 soldiers of any wrongdoing in an incident at Kasoa Millennium City that resulted in the death of one person and left two others with injuries.
The statement comes after Accra-based Joy FM reported on April 18 that GAF had cleared the soldiers who were involved in the incident of any wrongdoing.
But in a statement signed by its Deputy Director for Information and Press Relations, Commander M.A Larbi, GAF pointed out that it had not said anything to that effect lately.
[contextly_sidebar id=”F6nqZfF9nET9rujtPTQqo72VuMCIBRnp”]“The Ghana Armed Forces wishes to state that it has not issued any concluded Military Inquiry Report clearing 23 soldiers of any wrongdoing in an incident which resulted in the death of one person and injury to two others at Kasoa Millennium City in September 2015. The Armed Forces has also not issued any statement or granted any interview to that effect in recent times,” it said.
“The Director of Public Relations notified the News Editor of Joy FM that the story was false. The News Editor indeed confirmed she was yet to see any Military Inquiry Report and neither had the reporter, Joseph Opoku Gakpo provided one thereby claiming the report could have emanated from their ‘undisclosed’ sources.”
According to GAF, the voice used in the story was not in relation to the purported Inquiry Report, “rather, it was a recording of an old interview granted to Joseph Opoku Gakpo under a different circumstance and within a different context on 8 January 2016.”
The Armed Forces has assured Ghanaians that investigations into the incident are still ongoing.
“It must be noted though that GAF acknowledges that the Kasoa incident was regrettable, it has not brushed the matter under the carpet and in due course the appropriate state agencies handling the matter would issue their findings and recommendations.”
On April 18, Joy FM reported that GAF had released a Military Inquiry report which cleared the 23 soldiers of any wrongdoing in relation to the incident at Kasoa Millennium City.
According to the report, the investigation concluded that the soldiers were defending themselves when they shot at three people during a demolition exercise by the 21st Century Construction Company.
One person, Michael Darko, was reportedly killed, while two others sustained some injuries.
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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @ojsarpong