Two Navy officers believed to be stationed at the Sekondi Naval Base in the Western Region on Monday physically assaulted a “trotro” driver for not speeding when they boarded his vehicle, causing the driver union to bar them from using their vehicles.
Narrating his ordeal to Citi News the driver, Mathew Anderson said, “at about 8:30am, I started my usual routine; conveying commuters to and from the Naval Base gate. After my car was full in Takoradi, I set off but had to slow down upon reaching the bad road point from Effia Nkwanta Government Hospital to Ekwase, a surburd of Sekondi.”
He said “the navy officer who was in uniform then began putting on pressure me to speed but I did not listen even when he knew the road from that point was bad. We continued to the Sekondi Naval Base amidst insults. Then all of a sudden he opened my door, pulled me from my seat and started harassing me. One of his colleagues who was not in my car rushed me from behind and slapped me.”
The matter is now being investigated by the Sekondi District Police Command.
Meanwhile, the Sekondi Takoradi GPRTU Chairman Joseph Kingsley Eshun told Citi News that, “effective Tuesday June 23, no naval officer from the Sekondi Naval Command will be allowed to board trotro from the station.”
According to him, “this is the second time such an incident has occurred at the station where naval officers who we convey all the time rather turn around beating our drivers.”
He concluded that “until there is a formal apology from the Sekondi Naval Command, and the officer given the punishment he deserves, the directive to all drivers holds.”
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