Some Ghanaians have taken on President Nana Akufo-Addo for not commenting on yesterday’s violence at Ejura hours after the fatal incident.
Many of the comments are criticising the President for quickly posting goodwill messages when events happen in other countries but has failed to do the same for similar events in Ghana.
On Tuesday, June 29, Ejura youth took to the streets to protest a mob attack and subsequent death of a social media activist, Ibrahim Kaaka Mohammed, who is a known affiliate of the #FixTheCountry and Economic Freedom Fighters pressure groups.
The youth say authorities failed to protect Kaaka, as he is popularly known, because he had reported threats made on his life due to his activism prior to the assault on him.
They blocked roads and burned tyres, compelling security authorities to dispatch a team of military and police personnel to maintain order.
A soldier is captured in a viral video squatting and taking aim at a protestor before firing – shortly after arriving at the scene of the protest.
Four other protesters have also sustained gunshot injuries.
Kaaka was critical of the government’s seeming neglect of the social and infrastructural needs of his community.
He will typically make short videos to depict deplorable roads, poor drainage systems among other issues and post them on his Facebook page.
Since the incident, heads of Civil Society Organisations and many well-meaning members of the public have made comments to either condemn the killing or call for calm.
I urgently call on President Nana Akufo-Addo to initiate an immediate de-escalation of the situation in Ejura. https://t.co/BS3pgYOOiJ
— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) June 29, 2021
Former President John Mahama and the British High Commission in Ghana have issued statements calling for investigations into the incident.
1/ 2 We are concerned by reports of violence and saddened by the news of deaths in Ejura. Our thoughts are with the families and community at this time.
— UK in Ghana 🇬🇧🇬🇭 (@UKinGhana) June 29, 2021
Some Ghanaians believe the President’s silence on the grave matter is feeding into speculations that the killing of the protestors and the heavy-handedness of the security personnel deployed to the scene have the state's backing.
Some of the posts suggest cynically that the President has been posting about other things while he remains silent about the Ejura incident.
Another Facebook post brought back Akufo-Addo's Twitter post when the #EndSARS protests and police brutality was happening in Nigeria with the inscription "I am waiting for Akufo-Addo's tweet."
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