Police didn’t command Ayawaso West Wuogon Operation – Interior Minister

Mr Ambrose Dery, the Minister of the Interior Minister, Thursday, said it was not the Police Administration, which authorised the January 31 operation in the residence of the National Democratic Congress Parliamentary Candidate in the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.

Mr Dery, who was giving his testimony before the three-member Commission of Enquiry into operation, which turned violent, said the briefing he received from the Inspector General of Police thereafter indicated that the masked men were from an outfit of the National Security.

He said he first got to know about the event, involving the operatives, clothed in brown uniforms and black T-shirts, embossed with NSC, through the media, before the IGP’s briefing.

The confrontation that ensued between the operatives and the men in the house resulted in gunshots. Six persons were hospitalised with various degrees of injuries, with one seriously in the leg.

The incident has since been condemned widely across the world, amidst calls for thorough investigations to bring the culprits to book.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who asked the IGP to expedite action on the investigations into the matter, subsequently, set up the Commission, chaired by Mr Francis Emile Short, a former Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to do a far-reaching investigation, which would sustain the peace of the nation.

Professor Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, an eminent professor in Criminal Law and Mr Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, a former IGP, are the other members, with Dr Ernest Kofi Abotsi, a private legal practitioner, and former Dean of the GIMPA Law School, as the Secretary.

Mr Dery, however, said the violence in the private residence, did not affect the 137 polling stations in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.

On the issue of political vigilantism, Mr Dery said it was a crime and that anyone involved in such acts should be punished by law.

He said the Government was, therefore, committed to eliminating political vigilantism across the country and the Police would soon roll out measures towards that goal.