The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has handed down a one-week ultimatum to the Defence and Interior Committee to embark on a fact-finding mission to Kumasi over the incidence of alleged police brutality at the Islamic Senior High School (SHS).
A protest in the school turned chaotic when police met students with force, leading to several persons sustaining injuries.
Member of Parliament for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak, raised the matter on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, June 14, 2022.
The Speaker, in giving the directive, said: “I will direct the committee on Defence and Interior to take this matter up and report next week. In other words, the committee members should visit the IGP to the regional police commander and the school in question, visit the injured persons and report by Tuesday with the findings and await the final investigations and if there is the need for us to take any further action, we will do that.”
Some students of the Islamic Senior High School, Abrepo, Kumasi, took to the streets on Monday and blocked sections of the road to demonstrate against frequent motor traffic accidents in front of their school.
In a bid to help open the road to normal traffic flow, police responded by firing warning shots and opening tear gas and pepper spray on the students.
“The students pelted the police with stones and the police used pepper spray and fired warning shots in an attempt to disperse them,” police said in a statement.
Some students were injured following the disturbances and were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
According to the police service, although nobody died during the disturbances, the way its officers handled the situation was poor and fell short of standard operating procedures on crowd control.
Police clinical psychologists were subsequently deployed to visit the school to offer psychosocial support to the student body.
The Ghana Police Service has removed its Deputy Ashanti Regional Commander, DCOP Kwasi Akomeah Apraku and has also interdicted two other senior officers over the incident.
The Ministry of Education says calm has returned to the school.
Deputy Education Minister, John Ntim Fordjour, after a visit to the school on Monday night, said all the injured students are currently safe and responding to medical treatment.
He also said: “Out of the thirty-eight (38) students hospitalised, twenty-two (22) have been discharged and have joined their colleagues on campus.”
