Minority urged to help identify perpetrators

Page 17, March 23, 2010
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

THE Police administration has requested the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to assist the unit to identify the perpetrators , the Minority alleged have butchered some people in Agbogbloshie, a suburb of Accra, the Minister of the Interior, Mr Martin Amidu told Parliament yesterday.
In the heat of the incident, the Minority held a press conference and mentioned the names of seven people as those behind the heinous crime and later gave the names to the police.
But when Mr Amidu answered a question on the incident in the House yesterday, he stated that one of the difficulties encountered by the police in the investigation processes of that case had been the failure or reluctance of persons who had alleged that they possessed names of or know the identities of some or all of the perpetrators of the offence to co-operate with the police to facilitate investigations.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma North, Mr Justice Joe Appiah had asked the minister what stringent measures the ministry had initiated to bring to book the perpetrators of the crime against innocent Ghanaians who were butchered in broad daylight at Agblogbloshie.
Answering the question, Mr Amidu, said the Police administration had appealed to the general public, including MPs who had names, identities and or evidence or any other relevant information to make them available to the police to facilitate the investigations into the Agblogbloshie disturbances, which resulted in the death of the victims.
“It is only when this is done that we can establish the veracity of the descriptive adjectives used in the question I am answering in relation to the unfortunate victims of the disturbances”, he said.
Answering supplementary questions, Mr Amidu said the police specifically told him that although, the Minority Leader had submitted the names of the alleged killers, they would want him to assist them to identify the people alleged to have committed the crime and that he was being diplomatic when he generalised the request to include all MPs.
In his main answer, the minister said the police had since the incident been pursuing investigations to enable them arrest the culprits explaining that the police had been involved in undercover operations aimed at fishing out information and gathering intelligence on the incident.
The question generated heat in the House, resulting in a near clash between the Minority Leader and the Majority Leader, Mr Cletus Avoka.
As if that was not enough, the Minority also expressed their displeasure about the decision of the Speaker not to allow anybody apart from the person who asked the question to ask follow-up questions.
Mrs Joyce Bamford-Addo explained that as a result of time constraint, the House had decided that other MPs should not be allowed to ask follow-up questions if the main question was on a specific constituency.
But when the speaker insisted the Minority insisted that the Agblobloshie incident was national in nature.
She, however allowed Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu to ask his follow-up question thereby calming the nerves of the MPs from the Minority.
Answering another question posed by the MP for Kwabre East, Mr Kofi Frimpong, Mr Amidu told the House that in the first four months of 2009, the Kwabre East Constituency experienced a series of robberies in residential areas.
He said the police administration had since deployed an adequate number of men to step up night patrols periodically explaining that road blocks had been mounted at vantage points supported by snap checks and periodic swoops, as well as cordon and search operations to frustrate the criminals.
Mr Amidu said one Kwabena Takyi, who is suspected to have killed a Police Detective in the area is currently in custody and had confessed his crime.
He gave the assurance that the presence of the police in the area would be sustained to curb the occurrence of robberies in the Kwabre East area.