WATCH: Terrifying accounts of how the military brutalised residents of Wa over a ‘missing’ phone

One of the witnesses in the case of some military men brutalizing residents of Wa in the Upper West Region on July 1, 2021, has given disturbing details of how the town came under the angry viciousness of some soldiers.

Contained in the Investigative Report of the Committee on Defence and Interior on the Incident of the Military-Civil Brutality in Wa made available to GhanaWeb, the first witness, Cletus Awuni (PRO, Upper West Regional Coordinating Council) said he first got wind of the situation on the day at about 1 pm.

“He narrated that on the 1st of July 2021 at about 1300hrs, he had a call from a journalist who works with “Radio One” notifying him that the Military had rampaged the town and were brutalising people. He was with the NADMO Regional Director at the time of the information so they decided to drive through town to ascertain the truth before he could inform the Regional Minister who was out of the Region at the time.

“The incident according to him, was reported to have been happening in and around Tendama, a suburb of Wa which is also closer to the NPP new secretariat. Upon reaching there, he said he witnessed soldiers scattered all over town. He said he saw some motorists turning their motorbikes and “camboos” (tricycle) forcing them to use the one-way route. Others had abandoned their vehicles and were running for their lives.

“As they got close to the market area, he saw some civilians being made to come down from their “camboos” and motorbikes. They were asked to hold their ears to do the frog jumps, others were beaten, some pushed into gutters while others were made to roll on the ground while the soldiers kicked them in their bellies with their boots, belts, sticks and canes,” the report stated.

It further gave accounts of how Cletus Awuni, being concerned about the extent of brutalities being meted to the people of the town, could not even get the police to intervene because of their fears of starting a security services war.

“When he was able to reach the Commander he informed him of what was happening. Still driving through town, they got to the main traffic light where they saw some police men and women. Upon seeing the NADMO vehicle, the Police officers who were also witnesses to the incident, approached their vehicle and pleaded with them to intervene in the matter because they felt he could use his position as the PRO of the Regional Coordinating Council to calm the soldiers. The police felt that their direct intervention in the matter with the soldiers could spark off a clash so they stayed out,” the report added.

Before long, things escalated.

As the report would further add, Cletus decided to get some evidence of what was happening and so he pulled out his phone to record some of the brutalities.

He told the Committee, as the report stated, that it didn’t take long when he was spotted by one of the soldiers and almost in a flash, he became a victim of the cruelty of those soldiers until he was saved in the nick of time.

By then, however, he told the Committee, he had been so badly beaten up.

“At this point, many of the civilians did not really know why they were being brutalised. Some thought it was for not wearing helmets or nose masks as they could not immediately envisage what was warranting such torture. The witness rolled down the windows of the vehicle they were using and tried to find out from one of the soldiers what was happening. The soldier who was torturing a driver of a “camboo” ignored him. It was then that he decided to film the incident. Unfortunately, one of the soldiers saw him filming and raised an alarm. Within seconds, some soldiers had gathered around the vehicle he was in. he was ordered to get out of the vehicle.

“Before he could even open door of the vehicle, the soldiers had forcibly opened his side of the car door, held his shirt and tried pulling him out. Before he could open his mouth to answer why he was taking videos of the soldiers, they hit him on the forehead and the mouth. While they were still forcing him out of the car, he grabbed onto the handle of the car door resisting their force. The soldiers then took his phones and he was asked to delete the videos he had taken. When he refused, the soldiers then resorted to the use of Tasers on him to compel him to delete the videos.

“He still refused the order because he felt the soldiers had already tortured him enough and was, therefore, not afraid of further consequences. He was however, saved from further beating by the Upper West Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), DSP Emelia Gyekye who intervened by talking to the irate soldiers. She shouted at the soldiers to stop the act and revealed his identity to the soldiers. That was what saved him. DSP Emelia Gyekye asked that the soldiers give him back his phone which they had seized. His other phone got damaged in the course of the attack. With blood oozing from his forehead to his body, he was sent by the driver to the hospital on instruction of DSP Emelia Gyekye,” the report added.