Independent body must probe police over Nkoranza killing – CHRI
The Africa office of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is demanding a full-scale independent investigation into the alleged killing of a man in Nkoranza by the police.
According to CHRI, private citizens who are arrested have the right to a fair trial, right to life and due process must be followed to bring them to justice.
CHRI stated that summary execution or killing is not part of Ghana’s democratic practice and certainly not an acceptable process in democratic and rights-centred policing.
The deceased
Albert Donkor was on 25 April, picked up at his mother’s residence at Kasadjan in the Nkoranza municipality by the police on suspicion of a robbery that had occurred on the Nkoranza-Kintampo road.
The deceased was reportedly sent to the bush and allegedly shot by some police officers after which his body was transferred to Accra.
Talking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (16 May), Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, MP for Nkoranza, who doubles as an uncle of the deceased, alleged his nephew was a victim of a targeted killing.
Unsettling events
However, a statement issued by the Africa office of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said they find the “events unsettling.”
The statement said: “We find these events unsettling because the right to life, the right to personal liberty and the right to a fair trial are rights guaranteed under Chapter Five of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution and Articles 15 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution which provide in no uncertain terms for the respect for human dignity.”
It added that, “CHRI demands that the State should set up an independent body to investigate the death of Albert Donkor and the outcome of the investigation should be made public, the police officers found culpable should be prosecuted and duly punished, and adequate compensation should be paid to the family of Albert Donkor.”
Establishment of an independent police complaints commission
CHRI further called on the government to establish an independent police complaints commission to independently investigate such related issues.
“CHRI uses this opportunity to call on the executive, parliament and the Ministry of Interior (the sector Ministry) to urgently establish an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for Ghana which would investigate such issues independently and not rely on the Ghana police’s own internal investigations, which are hardly made public.
“Despite the consistent advocacy for the establishment of an IPCC since 2014, resulting in the development and submission of a framework in 2019 to the Minister of Interior, no action has been taken to establish the institution,” part of the statement said.
