Soldiers Drill Traders

It was a gory sight to behold at the Central Business District (CBD) in Kumasi on Wednesday afternoon when some uniformed military personnel took the law into their hands and subjected a number of pedestrians to an assortment of ill-treatment. In a typical replica of what happened in the days of the 1979 lamentable revolution, military officers detailed to the CBD area went berserk and maltreated pedestrians who innocently used forbidden routes in the area. Pedestrians who unknowingly trespassed into these areas were not spared as the military officers keeping watch, particularly at the precinct of the central market, were chased and manhandled, before being made to sit on the ground under the sweltering sun. The spectacle, as witnessed by Daily Guide at about 2:30 pm at the central market area, was very heart wrenching. The heartless military men did not even spare the aged and children who trespassed, as they were subjected to the same inhumane treatment. No matter how passionately the trespassing pedestrians appealed to the military officers to be pardoned because they did not know the area was forbidden, their pleas were not taken.Outrageously, the pedestrians, irrespective of their age, were made to put their hands on their heads like criminal as they sat on the ground in the blazing heat. These pedestrians regained their liberty from the hardhearted military officers after periods ranging from 30 minutes to an hour, and even more in some instances. People who witnessed the sordid spectacle were stunned as they wondered whether the nation had gone back to the revolution days when people�s rights were trampled upon with impunity . They were of the opinion that if the people had erred by walking on forbidden routes, they did not deserve the sadistic treatment the military officers were meting to them. Appealing to the KMA boss, Mr. Samuel Sarpong, to immediately halt the mistreatment of pedestrians, they entreated the former Ashanti regional boss of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to detail police and city guards to the area instead of the military. Due to the recent decongestion exercise which was embarked on by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) in the CBD area, some routes in the area have been barricaded to prevent pedestrians from using it. To ensure that pedestrians do not trespass the barricaded areas, a combined team of police and military personnel were detailed to the areas to direct pedestrians onto the approved routes.