Pay us or face court!

The family of the victims of the mistaken identity shooting in Dansoman has threatened to drag the authorities to court to secure justice for their deceased family members.

Two women and two men were shot and killed by police in the early hours of April 21, 2006, on assumption that they were armed robbers.

Although an independent investigative committee set up by the Interior Ministry proposed payment of compensation and the punishment of the officers involved, the family says that has not been done.

Speaking to Joy News, a spokesperson of the family, Mr Francis Dadzie said the only payment the family received was payment for the funeral costs and sums of money on the deceased before their death.

However, attempts to secure the promises of compensation have so far been unsuccessful.

Mr Dadzie said the Ministry of Interior has not been fair to their patience and is taking them for granted. He said since the Ministry told the whole world government has agreed to pay compensation it should honour the promise.

He said: “We have not had any communications as to writing and that is a very difficult one for the family. Secondly, we were expecting that the policemen involved after the committee had made recommendations that certain actions would be taken against them, as at now we do not know. Our information is that some of the policemen have been transferred to other stations and it is like life just goes on as usual. This is not fair to the family. We have shown good will and patience during this time. One year on nobody has written to us in regards to compensation, which is not fair."