Committee to investigate Ashaiman clash

Ashaiman, June 04, GNA - A three-member committee was on Wednesday formed by the Ashaiman District Security Committee (DISEC) to investigate circumstances that led to Tuesday's riot between commercial drivers and police at Ashaiman that claimed two lives and injured many others.

The committee, made up of representatives from the Ghana Police Service, Bureau of National Investigations and the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (AMA), is to submit its report in three days. The three-member committee is chaired by the Coordinating Director of the AMA, Mr Kwamina Akwa, Mr Albert Boakye Okyere, Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive, told the GNA in an interview.

Mr Albert Boakye Okyere, Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive who is also the chairman of the DISEC, appealed to residents of the town, especially drivers, to exercise restraint while a lasting solution is found to the problem to avert re-occurrence. The Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr Alfred Agbesi, expressed disappointment in the way the police handled the situation and called for an independent body to look into the matter and bring those responsible for the shooting to book.

He told the GNA in interview that the committee must comprise a member of parliament, a judge and a social worker and urged the government to immediately reshuffle the Ashaiman Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) or cause the transfer of the Commander. The drivers were demanding the release of four of their colleagues who had been arrested for parking at the roadside thus causing traffic jam instead of a parking lot provided for them. In the ensuing encounter the drivers were joined by a mob that besieged the Ashaiman Police Station and threw stones, sticks and other missiles at the police who responded by firing shots that killed the two people. The dead were identified as a nine-year-old boy who was selling iced water and a driver. 04 June 08