A 35-year-old Census officer has been assaulted by military personnel deployed in Amenfi West to fight illegal mining [galamsey].
The victim, Patrick Asaase was stationed at Aborekrom, Akani, Anikoko and Adwendaho to list structures but on that fateful day he encountered an unforgettable incident in his life when he was attacked by the masked military men.
Narrating his sad ordeal, the victim said after listing the first structure, he was moving to the second structure when a military officer slapped him from behind.
He said he turned and told the military officer that he was a census officer.
According to him, when he left the first military officer who slapped him, he met another officer on his way to list the other structures but received another hefty slaps. He said he was kicked to the ground and was attacked by the officers.
“One of the military men, the one who first slapped me shouted that ‘he (Asaase Patrick) is a census officer, before I was set free.”
When asked if he could identify those who brutalised him, he said they were in masks and mufflers, so it’s difficult to identify them. “The blows I received made me hallucinate, so I was thinking about escaping rather than identifying them”, he added.
Issues of military brutalities are becoming a common phenomenon in Ghana in recent times. On Tuesday, 29 June 2021, military men shot through a crowd of protesters at Ejura in Ashanti Region which led to the demise of two people. The youth were protesting following the attack on a social media activist, Ibrahim Muhammed, popularly known as Kaaka.
Another military attack incident happened in Wa on Thursday, 1 July 2021. Residents, road users and hawkers were brutalized and humiliated by military men. Some were compelled to lie and kneel in open gutters and slapped repeatedly.
