The Deputy Ashanti Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Baah Acheamfour, says the camouflage attire that some executives of the party wore during the visit of former president John Dramani Mahama to the region, were just replicas bought from the Kejetia Market.
He indicated that the fabrics were ordinary replicas sewed by their respective tailors and had nothing related to impersonating the military.
“It is a normal camouflage material we were wearing and not military uniforms. I had no idea that the others were going to put on their camouflage materials and what we did, has nothing to do with security because there were police officers on the ground that provided security when John Mahama came.”
Baah Acheamfour
Mr. Acheamfour further described the police action of inviting the executives over the attire, as a means of intimidating the NDC executives in the Ashanti Region.
“What we wore was a completely different material from what the Ghana military wear. No one can tell us to stop wearing the attire, unless we are told not to wear it by a competent court.”
Baah Acheamfour
The NDC made claims of being in possession of dozens of pictures of NPP National and Regional executives, who wore military camouflage for their party activities and as such, did not understand why they were the only ones to be called when they put on their attire.
Six executives including; Captain (Rtd) John Kwame Jabari, first Vice Chairman of the party in the region; Baah Acheamfour, Deputy Secretary of the party in the region; Seth Atanga, Deputy Youth Organizer, and Marvin Philip Frazer Norman, were all invited by the Ashanti Regional Police Command, to help probe the authenticity of the attires worn at the tour.
There’s No Law Against Wearing Military Camouflage In Ghana
The Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu, has clarified that there is no particular legal provision barring the wearing of military camouflage in Ghana.
The former superintendent of police averred the wearing of replicas is not criminal and a big deal should not be made out of it.
Speaking on the back of the invitation of the Ashanti Regional NDC executives by the Regional Police Command, for wearing military camouflage during a tour by former president John Dramani Mahama, Mr. Toobu said if wearing camouflage was illegal, the government would have taken measures to halt the importation of the many replicas that have flooded the open markets.
Mr. Toobu explained that “the principle is simple, if you are a police officer, you dress in a uniform to show that you are an officer and if you are a soldier, you are a soldier by training, but the uniform is symbolic of who you are and so if you are not a police officer or a soldier, and you are wearing army uniform, they [the military] have the right to question you.”
He further intimated that aside from the questioning by the military to prevent impersonations, there is actually nothing unlawful about wearing replicas.
“If you wear camouflage, that is not the Ghana Army uniform, that shouldn’t be an issue unless there is a law banning the importation of camouflage into the country.”
Peter Lanchene Toobu
Mr. Toobu also admonished the public and the media, to be circumspect in reporting these incidents to avoid unnecessarily denting the image of the Ghana Army.
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