The Minister for Interior, Ambrose Dery, has extended the time frame by which the tripartite committee is to complete the probing into the Ejura incident.
In a letter addressed to the chairman of the three-member committee, the interior minister approved the extension of the working period by seven more days.
“Your request for the extension of the working period from Friday 9 July 2021 to Friday 16 July 2021 is hereby approved.”
Interior Minister
This follows the request by the three-member committee, who wrote to the Interior Minister to seek one more week to complete its work on Ejura.
The Committee of Inquiry appointed to conduct a public probe into circumstances that led to the death of two persons in Ejura on June 29, yesterday July 8, 2021 requested an extension of the deadline for submission of its report to July 16.
The Committee, appointed on July 2, was expected to hand over a detailed report of their inquiry to the Minister of Interior on Friday, July 9. However, it said it needed more time to take more testimonies which will help it unravel circumstances leading to the deaths of two protesters after clashes with security personnel.
The Committee in its letter to the interior minister said they have received testimonies from four sources including the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana Police Service, the media and the Ashanti Regional Minister.
However, they revealed they had about seven more testimonies to take, thus, urged the Minister to extend their deadline from July 9 to Friday, July 16.
“Considering the testimonies yet to be taken, the Committee is requesting for an extension of the deadline to complete its work to Friday, the 16th day of July 2021.”
Tripartite Committee
Kaaka’s family won’t testify
The family of the late Mohammed Ibrahim popularly called Kaaka who was killed in Ejura has said they will not testify in the ongoing public hearing into the causes of the disturbances in Ejura in the Ashanti Region.
The family said they are unable to take part in the hearing because the events over the past few days have left less certain of the scope, focus, real intent and even utility of the ongoing inquiry.
“We, the family of Ibrahim ‘Kaaka’ Mohammed, regret to formally notify you of our decision to not participate in the ongoing public inquisition, which is purportedly concerned with the circumstances that led to the unfortunate occurrences of Tuesday, 29th June 2021.
“As you may be aware, we like many people in Ejura, welcomed and continue to appreciate the President’s decision to instruct you to inquire into the circumstances that led to indiscriminate killings of the people of Ejura by members of our military forces. We congratulate you on your decision to heed the call of civil society organizations to recuse yourself from the inquiry; and to set up a separate Committee of Inquiry.
“However, events over the past few days, have left less certain of the scope, focus, real intent and even utility of the ongoing inquiry. As such, we feel let down in our enthusiasm for what we assumed would provide a much-needed opportunity for truth, soul searching and institutional accountability for state-sanctioned violence.”
