The creation of a bipartisan committee to look into the police fire of live ammunition into student demonstrators at the Islamic SHS in Kumasi has been requested by the Parliament's Defence and Interior Committee.
The Speaker of Parliament assigned members of the Committee the job of visiting the Islamic SHS, the IGP, and the Ashanti Regional Police Command the next day, June 14, to familiarise themselves with the occurrence and report to the House.
The Committee completed its findings and provided some suggestions to the House a month later.
The Ashanti Region's Urban Roads Director should be penalised, according to the Defence Committee, for neglecting to install speed ramps along that section of the road. The Committee also criticised how the police handled the issue and suggested that speed ramps be installed right afterwards.
"The Committee comes to the conclusion that the Ghana Police Service lacks the necessary logistical support to enable the Service to adequately respond to crowd control concerns. Therefore, the Committee advises that a bipartisan committee be established by Parliament to conduct more research.
"The Committee once more comes to the conclusion that the commotion caused by students at the Islamic SHS was caused by a lack of adequate road traffic infrastructure and speed control for simple pedestrian and student crossing.
"The Committee requests the Ministry of Roads and Highways urgently to install speed ramps and pedestrian crossings to ensure safe usage of the road by pedestrians," both drivers and pedestrians," Committee Chairman Kennedy Agyapong stated on Thursday in front of the House.
James Agalga, the committee's ranking member, said that the police cannot be trusted to conduct their own investigations since they will often clear themselves of wrongdoing.
The police, he continued, "have been accused in this subject of using excessive force to disperse groups of very young pupils, so when you allow them to do their own inquiry, the report will be prejudiced."
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