IGP, Police Cdrs Asked To Resign

Concerned Youth of Kotobabi have given a one-week ultimatum to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Patrick Acheampong, the Accra Regional Police Commander, ACP Douglas Akrofi Asiedu, and the District Commander at the Kotobabi Police Station to resign for what they described as the unprofessional way in which the police gunned down a resident of the Accra Suburb last Friday.

They threatened that if these officials failed to resign within a week, they would advise themselves on the next line of action, and did not rule out demonstrations.

The concerned youth also appealed to President John Agyekum Kufuor to take an interest in the Kotobabi shooting incident and institute an independent investigation into the matter.

“We believe that any report that will come from the police will be bogus, since they cannot be judges in their own court, hence we disregard and denounce any investigation by the Regional Police Command,” the Spokesperson for the concerned youth, Mr Robert Coleman, said.

He made these demands yesterday at a news conference at the Kotobabi residence of the deceased, Isaac Tetteh Nartey. In attendance were the mother of the deceased, Madam Lydia Pecku, and other family members.

Isaac Tetteh Nartey, a 26-year-old fashion designer, was mistakenly shot by the police close to his house at Kotobabi, near the Mamobi Polyclinic, last Friday, when the police came to the area to trail suspected armed robbers.

Family members said Tetteh Nartey came out of his home at about 12 p.m., accompanied by his dog, to verify the cause of extreme noise in the neighbourhood. The noise was from some residents who needed help to arrest some gangs who had attacked a taxi driver.

Moments after, two policemen and the driver of a taxi emerged and one of the policemen allegedly shot Tetteh Nartey, whom he mistook for one of the armed robbers who snatched the taxi.

Mr Coleman stressed that since these officials had failed in their constitutional and moral responsibility to protect the lives of citizens, it was proper that they “resign honourably”.

He recalled the recent shooting incident at Dansoman also in Accra and noted that these indiscriminate shooting incidents would not cease until these officials vacated their respective positions.

Mr Coleman condemned the action of the police, saying that “we find this obnoxious method of handling crime in this country extremely reprehensible and absolutely preposterous.”

“We would like to state categorically and emphatically, devoid of any equivocation, that our brother is not an armed robber as is being described in certain quarters,” he stressed.

The spokesperson described Isaac, also known as Mature, as a very disciplined young man who would not engage in any criminal activity, let alone armed robbery.

He also condemned the recent shooting incident at Dansoman in which four persons, including two women, were shot dead in a Tico taxi by a group of policemen from the Dansoman District Police Station.

These were allegedly mistaken for a group of armed robbers who had earlier snatched a bag from one of the deceased women around Zodiac, about 250 metres from the scene of the shooting incident.

He also referred to the Taifa shooting incident which happened about three years ago, in which some members of the watchdog committee of the neighbourhood were mistaken for armed robbers and shot by a team of police and soldiers on patrol duties.

Mr Coleman accused the police of being unprofessional and asked the Interior Minister to review the entry requirement and training procedures of the Ghana Police Service for it to conform to modern-day policing.