Hot!
Police Service slapped with ¢320k fine for officers negligence in shooting 3
The officers who were pursuing goat thieves from Twifo Praso fired into the thieves’ car. A stray bullet hit a moving taxi occupied by a couple and their daughter in the process.
The bullet hit and killed Josephine Owusuaa Aboagye, injured her husband, Aboagye Okyere, and a student on her way to school.
According to the plaintiffs, on January 10, 2019, at about 6:30 am, they were on board a taxi cab from Ankaful Junction in Cape Coast when they were shot at by the cops who said they were chasing robbers from Twifo Praso.
The bullet fired by the police strayed and hit Mary Aboagye who later died at the hospital, hit her husband, and hit one Cecilia Mensah, who was on her way to school.
Some bystanders rescued the victims and sent them to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital where Mary Aboagye was pronounced dead. The other two victims, Cecilia Mensah and her father sustained varying degrees of injuries as a result of the bullet they received.
The defendants, the Ghana Police Service told the court it deployed five policemen from various police stations in the Central Region for police patrol duty at Darmang near Twifo Praso. Whilst on patrols, they had information that there was a BMW saloon car with four occupants suspected to be driving recklessly.
A few minutes later, the said BMW car approached the patrol team. The team signalled the driver to stop. However, he ignored the signals and sped off, nearly knocking down the policemen.
The team noticed that the passenger on the front seat was holding an AK 47 riffle. Accordingly, they notified all the police barriers from Twifo Praso to Cape Coast and proceeded to chase the said BMW car.
On the outskirts of Jukwa Senior High School, the suspected robbers then began firing at the police patrol vehicle with AK 47 rifle leaving the police no choice but to return fire.
A search conducted in the car revealed six live goats, one live sheep and five dead goats. They arrested the suspected robbers and sent them with the animals found in the car to the regional headquarters in Cape Coast where they made a situational report to their officers.
Justice Kwasi Boakye explained that the judgment was not meant to intimidate and lower the morale of the crime-fighting institutions such as the Police.
He urged the Inspector General of the Ghana Police Service (IGP) to take proactive steps to ‘Damparise’ the Service.
He noted that there was a dire need to undertake a complete overhaul or re-engineer the service as far as its professional training needs and competence are concerned. He made reference to a similar incident where some armed policemen in broad day, shot into an unregistered saloon car at Tamale, resulting in the death of one [1] of the occupants whereas the others sustained various degrees of injuries.
He consequently awarded the 1st plaintiff, the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC150,000.00) lump sum as compensation and ordered the defendants to pay same having considered the following heads: future loss of earnings, nursing attendants, loss of amenities, loss of expectation of life and disability.
For Cecilia Mensah, the 3rd plaintiff, a student of the Academy of Christ The King SHS, the judge assessed compensation payable at ¢60,000 and ordered the defendants to pay same.
He also further awarded a lump sum payment of ¢100,000 to the estates of the deceased because her family member, Josephine Okyere, sued as a dependent of Mary Aboagye.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
Madam Sandra Seyram Kpedor, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Anloga in the Volta Region, has emphasised the importance of parental involvement in children’s education, stating that education is free, but parents need to do more to support their children.
She said parents, teachers, and students must be involved in addressing the challenges facing the district’s education sector, particularly the poor Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results.
Madam Kpedor outlined some key roles parents should play to promote their children’s education, including providing a conducive learning environment, monitoring their children’s progress, and supporting teachers.
The DCE highlighted some challenges the district faced such as inadequate infrastructure and a shortage of teachers, which have also contributed to the poor BECE results and called on well-to-do parent to help solve the situation through and other supports.
To address the issues, she also announced that plans have been taken to utilise the district’s common fund to implement educational projects, such as constructing school blocks and teachers’ bungalows at Sodzi community, and 2-unit classroom blocks each at Akplorwutorkor and Tegbi-Afedome respectively, among others.
Madam Kpedor also noted that her office had earlier notified the Ministry of Education to deploy more teachers to the area to improve teaching and learning, and encouraged students to work hard and strive for excellence, and work beyond their limit to succeed.
“To my wonderful and beautiful girls, you have to know it clear that women and girls have equal opportunities to compete with men for greater achievements,” she indicated.
The DCE cited her own achievement as a testament to the fact that women can excel in leadership positions, alongside Vice President Nana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and stressed that girls were no longer limited to domestic roles but can pursue their dreams and become leaders.
Additionally, she mentioned that a meeting was held earlier with assembly members, and other stakeholders to address the district’s educational challenges and improve academic performance.
She promised that the district’s education oversight committee and stakeholders would work together to address the challenges and improve the district’s BECE results and called for parental involvement and support to boost the district’s education sector for children to chase their dreams to become future leaders for the success of the district and the nation.
She urged parents not to leave everything to the government but rather help in the provision of some necessary materials such as textbooks, exercise books, pens, pencils, food, and guidance to children for the successes of young learners. –GNA
Join our WhatsApp Channel now!
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
The spokesperson for Dr. Bawumia, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, has criticised the implementation of the NDC government’s No Fee Stress policy, arguing that the programme has failed to deliver on its core promise.
According to him on Starr fm, the policy, which was introduced to ensure stress free payment of fees for level 100 tertiary students, has rather turned into what he described as post stress support.
He explained that students are required to pay their fees first before applying for reimbursement, a situation he believes defeats the purpose of the policy.
He questioned claims by government officials that the policy has been successful and that citizens are happy.
In his view, such claims do not reflect the lived realities of many Ghanaians. He stressed that while some people may appear satisfied, many others continue to struggle.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye pointed to the situation of trained teachers and nurses who have been picketing for nearly six months, demanding employment.
He noted that government responses suggesting it cannot accommodate all of them contradict claims of economic stability.
He further argued that economic indicators such as a stable currency mean little to people who are unable to secure jobs or access promised support.
He observed that telling an unemployed teacher or a struggling student that the cedi has strengthened does not address their immediate challenges.
On the issue of tertiary education, he maintained that no level 100 student benefited from stress free fees in 2025, despite the policy being announced.
He added that in 2026, students have already reported to school without receiving the promised support.
He insisted that asking students to pay fees first and seek reimbursement later amounts to support after hardship, not stress free education.
According to him, this approach goes against what was promised during the policy announcement.
Dennis Miracles Aboagye questioned why a government that presents the economy as strong is unable to fulfil what he described as simple and clear promises.
He added that there is a fundamental problem with the way the economy is being managed and indicated that he is prepared to explain his position further.
By: Jacob Aggrey
