The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) are to investigate the alleged assault by soldiers on some students of the Wa Islamic Senior High School who were protesting the inclusion of some items on their bills.
The Deputy Director of Information and Media Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Lt Commander Andy Ala Anyane, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that reports from the Wa Military Command did not suggest any form of attack by the soldiers on the students.
Rather, he said the reports indicated that the military personnel arrived at the scene following a call by the Upper West Regional Police Command and the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Amidu Suleiman, for the military’s intervention to restore order at the school.
However, he said media reports suggested otherwise, hence the need to look into the issues and come clear on what actually happened.
“We will conduct further investigations into the issues and ensure that the public are informed about the outcome of the investigations,” he stated.
Two students of the Islamic Senior High School were admitted to a hospital on Thursday, November 20, 2014 following a high-handed military action to quell a stand-off between the students and the school authorities.
The students were protesting the inclusion of certain items on their bills and also demanding that some aspects of Information Communication Technology (ICT) be scrapped.
The students, a male and a female, were the main casualties of an apparent simultaneous police and military action to break their front as their protest degenerated into chaos.
The soldiers allegedly invaded the girls’ dormitory and started beating the riotous students following a call to the police to go to the school and restore order.
An eyewitness said it was the ingenuity of the Deputy Crime Officer of the Upper West Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) George Asare, that calmed the military personnel who had gone into action without the knowledge of the police.
Source: Graphic Online