Ejura unrest: Resign for your own sake - Simon Osei-Mensah told

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah has been advised to resign following what is being described as a lapse in judgement which led to the death of some youth of Ejura in the region.

National Youth Organizer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mark Arkoh has described the Regional Minister as incompetent and accused him of the death of these youth, while asking him to leave office.

“We are calling for the immediate resignation of the Minister. He is incompetent for the job.”

He believes the Minister is also not being transparent to questions being asked by the Commission of Enquiry set up to investigate the shooting and posits he might be covering up true incidents leading to the killings.

According to him, if the enquiry into the Ejura incident is not handled properly, the country might suffer a similar plight soon “and we may not be able to do anything about it”. Some of us were happy when the Commission of Enquiry was set up but events from the proceedings are making us think otherwise.”

He added that questions being asked by the Commission of Enquiry “are not deep enough to unravel the truth behind the killings. We are talking about human lives which have been lost here through an unwarranted operation sanctioned by the Minister but he is being pampered by the enquiry.”

Deputy National Youth Organizer in charge of operations for the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Ebenezer Tetteh added, “The Ashanti Regional Minister would have resigned by now in any serious country but he is still in office because of corruption and this is sad. What happened in Ejura was in a poor state and must be addressed immediately.”

Speaking to Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, Ebenezer also called for the dismissal of all military officials dispatched to the place. “It will be difficult for them to give up those who fired live rounds into the crowd. These people must be fired immediately.”

Background

Following the mob attack and killing of social activist Anyas Ibrahim Mohammed, also known as Kaaka, some youth of Ejura protested to demand justice for his death but clashed with some security personnel at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.

This led to two lives lost and four injured.

In the quest to find the circumstances surrounding the shooting the President of the Republic directed the Interior Minister to set up a three-member committee to investigate the matter.

The committee began sitting on Tuesday, July 6, 2021.

The Ashanti Region Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, became the first person to be probed by the three-member ministerial committee.

He admitted to having ordered the military to Ejura but indicated that he did not know the outcome would be as severe as witnessed.

According to him, his order followed a message he received informing him that the youth of Ejura had an intention to burn down some security installations including a police station and cause some destruction.

He also presented a video evidence of the youth throwing stones at the police.

He has, however, refused to name the source of the video even after the committee has asked several times to present the source so as to check the authenticity of the video, insisting he does not want to compromise the safety of his source.