Military men who allegedly beat up students at the Wa Islamic School last month have been cleared after investigations by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
According to the GAF’s Director of Public Affairs, Colonel Aggrey Quarshie, their investigations reveal no student was lashed.
Speaking to Joy News, he said “our checks reveal that our personnel did not assault anybody there. They asked the students to lie down but they did not touch anybody.”
He explained that the students were asked to lie down in order to restore order and separate those causing trouble from onlookers.
Two students of the Islamic Senior High School were admitted to a hospital on Thursday, November 20, 2014 following a high-handed military action to quell a stand-off between the students and the school authorities.
The headmaster of the school, Abdul Rahman Tampori had gone to discuss with the students a possible hike in school fees but the students reportedly resisted the hike, saying it was too expensive.
The students then went on a hunger strike in protest over the hike in the fees.
The school authorities were reported to have invited the police to intervene in the matter but the situation turned chaotic when the students allegedly pelted them with stones.
The soldiers allegedly invaded the girls’ dormitory of the mixed school and started beating the riotous students, leaving two of them injured.
But Col. Quarshie stressed that his men did not do anything that was dangerous to the lives of students or the general public.
A private investigation conducted by the force, he said, did not point out any misconduct on the part of the officers who were present in the school that day.
