At the resumption of its meeting yesterday after a two-week break, Members of Parliament on both sides of the political divide took turns to express concern over the use of live ammunition to control crowd which ended up with loss of lives.

Statement

Members were contributing to a statement made by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu, Mr Ras Mubarak, on the floor of the house on the subject matter.

Mr Mubarak told the house that last year, one of his constituents, Ganiu Abdul Rahaman, a 19-year-old student, was returning home from class when he was hit in the leg by a stray bullet fired by the police in a community at Dalun during a stand-off between the police and the youth of the community.

He alluded to the several reports about the use of live ammunition by the police in crowd control situations with such brutal use of force in some cases resulting in not just severe injuries but in death as well.

“Mr Speaker, the shooting of Ganiu, and several other innocent Ghanaians by the police during riot control situations brings to the fore the debate about the use of live bullets,” Mr Mubarak said.

Contribution

In contributing to the issue, the MP for Madina, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, expressed his resentment to such acts and questioned why the police usually carried live bullets with them during riot control when it was not a war situation.

Adding his voice to the matter, the MP for Keta, Mr Richard Quashigah, asked the police to exercise restraint during crowd control and be mindful of their duties to protect the public.

The Minister designate for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, underscored the need for the police to undergo further training in the effort to curb such acts.

He however, called on the citizenry in general and Parliament in particular to support him to bring reforms to the police service if his nomination is approved by Parliament.