A Security Analyst, Samuel Appiah, has strongly condemned what he describes as the unprofessional conduct of military personnel involved in Thursday’s fatal shooting at Nyinahin.
The tragic incident led to the death of a young man and left several others injured. According to eyewitnesses, the shooting occurred when soldiers traveling in a military vehicle encountered a group of young men on their way to bury a deceased friend. One of the mourners was reportedly wearing military camouflage attire.
Although the Ashanti Regional Police Command has launched an investigation, the incident has sparked fresh debate over whether it is unlawful for civilians to wear military camouflage.
Speaking to Starr News, Mr. Appiah stressed the need to enforce the ban on the sale of military camouflage clothing in open markets. He criticized the soldiers’ handling of the situation.
“I believe we need to address the issue of what constitutes a military uniform and what the law actually forbids civilians from wearing. If any camouflage-patterned attire is considered a military uniform, then the law should clearly prohibit civilians from wearing it. More importantly, it must be enforced. Such clothing should not be sold in public markets. If it’s restricted, then its sale and distribution should also be banned, and violators prosecuted accordingly,” he said.
He questioned the rationale behind the military’s use of force. “What could possibly provoke military personnel to the extent of pointing a weapon at civilians, especially during a funeral? It’s unacceptable. Instead of calmly addressing the man wearing the camouflage, the military opened fire. This unnecessarily escalated the situation. The appropriate response would have been to ask the individual to remove the attire, not to resort to firearms. The result was a needless loss of life and several injuries.”
“This was clearly an excessive and unmeasured use of force. It was unprofessional, and such behavior should never be tolerated. We must strongly condemn it with the urgency and seriousness it demands,” he added.
Meanwhile, private legal practitioner Yaw Danquah believes civilians found wearing camouflage-patterned clothing should not be manhandled but instead handed over to the police for due process.
Source: Ghana/Starr FM 103.5FM/Benjamin Sackey
