Former President John Mahama has said the Commission of Inquiry set up by President Nana Akufo-Addo to probe the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election shooting by some national security operatives which injured 16 members of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), is not the best to criminally sanction the perpetrators.

Mr Mahama told about 18 diplomats at a meeting in Peduase that the by-election violence was a criminal act that must be prosecuted straightforward.

“It is my belief”, Mr Mahama, who is running for the flag bearer slot of the NDC ahead of the 2020 polls, said: “That the President would have known what security arrangements were being made”.

“These are all issues that have come up. We believe that this is a straight criminal case and the people involved, many of them have been identified and the Police should have invited them, taken their statements and started their investigation. Instead, they have decided to set up a Commission of Inquiry.”

“We all know what happens when Commissions of Inquiries are set up. The main usefulness of a Commission of Inquiry is to bring out the facts and put in place measures to ensure that such a thing does not happen again but it is not the most convenient way for sanctioning criminal conduct.”

The Commission of Inquiry is chaired by Justice Emile Short. Its members include world-renowned legal luminary Prof Henrietta Mensa Bonsu and former IGP Patrick Acheampong with the former Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Dr Ernest Kofi Abotsi as its Secretary. The Commission has a month to present its report.