GhanaWeb checks with hospital authorities at the St. Martin de Porres Hospital at Agomanya, have confirmed that at least six persons were admitted on August 22 with gunshot wounds.
Read full articleThey were allegedly shot by soldiers assisting personnel of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to disconnect a transformer at Nuaso, a suburb of the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region.
The incident which took place on Monday, August 22, 2022 saw the soldiers allegedly shooting at one time into a crowd that was massing up around the ECG team undertaking the disconnection, resulting in the injuries.
Administrator of the facility, Mr. Emmanuel Bosompim confirmed to GhanaWeb that six persons had been brought to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Assaults
Some of the victims shared their stories with GhanaWeb, among them a pregnant woman and an elderly couple.
The victims, who included men and women, alleged being whipped and hit with the buts of guns with several of them sustaining various degrees of injury in the process.
One of the victims, a woman sustained a fracture in her left arm during the assault.
Showing visible marks of from the attack on their arms, back, face and other parts of their bodies, the victims accused the soldiers of unprovoked attacks even when they did not oppose the rollout of the meters in their homes.
A pregnant woman who fell victim to the assault said in an interview that about five soldiers rammed into her house and demanded that they warn their husbands (to desist from interrupting the exercise.)
“When they came, I was washing and they stormed the house, they were holding whips and they said we should advise our husbands. One was targeting my tummy with the whip and I blocked it with my hand,” she narrated.
Another victim, Christopher Tetteh Kwasi sustained injuries on his back and face. He told a GhanaWeb reporter, “This afternoon we were here when the soldiers came, they came and attacked us to give us the prepaid but we didn’t say we won’t take the prepaid.
“I don’t know what they are doing, I’m from the bush to cut firewood, as we were coming we met the soldier men and they attacked me and started beating me rough, rough, I don’t understand. I don’t know what I did to them before they started beating me,” he said showing marks on his chest allegedly of a catapult shot by the soldiers.
Adding that he had already reported the incident to the police, Christopher said the military should have exercised patience to engage the community if they had any difficulties instead of brutalizing them.
He alleged that the military men, before leaving threatened to return to the community to visit further mayhem on them.
Mr. Teye Ebenezer Padi, an elderly man was also assaulted together with his wife, resulting in the latter suffering a broken arm. Mr. Teye said, the soldiers in the course of the assault hit his head with the butt of the gun.
Showing marks of assault at his back, he narrated, “the military men came to us, they didn’t ask anybody question, they started beating us,” alleged further that the security forces assaulted anybody they saw around.
According to him, the community was not informed prior to resumption of installation works in the area following the one-month outage in the area. He said, “they beat us, look at my back, even they hit my head with their gun,” said the victim.
He narrated further that his wife who questioned the actions of the soldiers was not spared as they descended on her, breaking her arm in the process.
His wife, Adjoa Padi narrating her ordeal said, “they (ECG) came here to fix the prepaid meters, when they came we didn’t say anything. They then left and returned with soldiers, anybody they saw, they started beating you. So they started beating my husband and I said no, they started beating me too and even broke my arm.”
Assemblyman condemns highhandedness by military, ECG rep laments attacks on their staff
Condemning the incident, Assemblyman for the Nuaso Old Town Electoral Area, Samuel Torgbor said he was not informed of the exercise prior to the team’s arrival.
“I just had a call that the ECG and soldiers are in town to install prepaid meters,” he said. “In fact, when I came to the grounds, I was not happy because you cannot beat somebody because of prepaid meters," he stated.
Meanwhile, the ECG in response blamed the residents for instigating the assaults on them. PRO of the Company, Madam Sakyiwaa Mensah said, “In Nuaso Old Town, there was resistance.
“One woman threatened to pour hot oil on the ECG personnel and the military as well. A crowd started amassing around one ECG Team. The Military was able to receive a cutlass from one of those who were amassing around the ECG people.
“ECG condemns these attacks and unfortunate situations. We keep calling for peace and calm so we can discharge our duties peacefully.”
There were earlier clashes between residents of the community and the ECG/military team with the latest resulting in the one-month power outage in the area.