Ghanaians who did not witness the military brutalities of the PNDC days can be pardoned for hardly appreciating the uncivil treatment of civilians by their compatriots in uniform.
Those were dark days of our post independence history and we would not want them repeated in 2025. Following the incidences of disappearances and murders associated with the junta in those days, President John Agyekum Kufuor when he assumed the leadership of the country set up a Commission to take the country through a healing process.
Victims turned up to pour hearts out as did the aggressors too. The dividend of healing which was the goal presupposes that never again should brutality by persons in uniform be tolerated in the country.
Where there are infringements of the law the civil police, the foremost internal security organization should be responsible for investigation and prosecution in courts of competent jurisdiction.
It took us aback therefore when in the past few weeks incidents of military brutalities have been recorded in the Ashanti Region.
The first one had to do with some soldiers picking suspected mobile phone thieves and assaulting them to pulps with one or two fatalities. Thankfully the authorities of 4bn have intervened and the civil police as should be the case have taken over.
This was followed by another incident in which some soldiers driving through Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region challenged a man for wearing a military fatigue. In the fracas that ensued the suspect was shot in the head and he died instantly.
It was a cold blooded murder which shocked viewers who saw the video on social media.
Even in the theatre of war there are conventions which ensure a certain level of civility among belligerents. The Nuremburg Convention comes to mind.
Enemy forces surrendering should not be killed and their human dignity should be respected.
Even before the outcome of any investigation into the case under review we can state that considering the graphic video from the crime scene the deceased did not pose any threat to the soldier.
The soldier who killed the man did not even bother to render any first aid to the fallen but rather hurriedly fled the scene alongside his colleagues.
Movements of military vehicles are known and so it should not be difficult to identify the truck on which the killer soldiers was onboard. The registration number of the military truck is known and so it is unfathomable that it is taking this long to identify the soldier.
The closest we came to hearing something official about the murder is the assurance by the Ashanti Regional Police Commander that the soldier responsible for the murder would be identified and dealt with according to the law.
To date we have not heard anything and we find it intriguing and even wondering whether the killer soldier is going to be let off the hook.
As citizens of this country we should have by now been periodically given updates about the case. We are waiting.
