Akufo-Addo’s silence on Ashaiman military invasion: Did the Deputy Defence Minister speak his mind?

As expected, citizens were waiting to hear President Akufo-Addo’s take on the current happenings in Ashaiman when he read the State of the Nation Address in Parliament.

However, throughout his delivery, Mr. Akufo-Addo never for once said anything about the brutalities meted out to Ashaiman residents by the military.

One could argue the speech may have been prepared before the incident, but that can’t be justified as he instead took time to congratulate women on International Women’s Day, which is being observed today, March 8, which was absolutely right.

The President's posture about the incident seemed to be an affirmation of the Defence Minister, Mr. Kofi Amankwa-Manu’s earlier statement that government will never apologise for the operation.

Though Mr. Amankwa-Manu claims to acknowledge and sympathise with those affected by the military’s operation in the community, he maintains that the operation was necessary.

"It is only proper that we admit when there are excesses, and in operations of this nature, you may get one or two people who may get carried away.

"So if decent, innocent residents were caught up in this, in my capacity as the Deputy Defence Minister, I will want to apologise for that," he said.

"That of course we will apologise, but, my brother, we’re not going to apologise for the operations," he added.

He made the comment in his capacity as the nation’s Deputy Defence Minister while speaking on Accra-based JoyNews’ PM Express.

This comes after the residents of Ashaiman, a suburb in Ghana’s capital, Accra, locked themselves up in their rooms following the invasion of military personnel in the town.

The incident happened after some unknown residents of the town stabbed a military man to death in the community over the weekend.

In an attempt to avenge their colleague’s assassination, some uniformed military men stormed the area in the early hours of Tuesday, March 7, and subjected many to torture.

Videos shared on social media captured moments of deep panic and fear as people were seen on the streets receiving lashes on their backs.