The Economic Fighters League has described the state as a facilitator of injustice for failing to prosecute the killers of social activist Ibrahim Kaaka, who was attacked and killed last year for his social commentary and demands for the government to fix the problems of his native Ejura.
Marking a year of the killing, the radical Nkrumahist movement bemoaned the lack of interest by the state to try the perpetrators of the crime, saying it only thrashes the efforts of patriots who think and work tirelessly for the development of the country and die in the process while leaving their families in years of mourning and eternal emotional damage.
The Fighters also added that the other two young men – Nasiru Yussif and Murtala Mohammed – who were also maimed in the wake of the unrests after Kaaka’s burial on June 29, 2021, deserve justice too.
“It has been a year of mourning without any attempt for an independent investigation into the murder of Mohammed Ibrahim Kaaka as well as the state-funded murder of Nasiru Yussif and Murtala Mohammed, including several Ejura youth maimed in the process.
“Prosecution of the murderers is still pending and appropriate remedy to the family has been denied. We commemorate this day not as a celebration but in honor of these martyrs for democracy.”
The social justice movement further condemned the state’s decision to provide monetary compensation to families of the deceased and others injured when no one was yet prosecuted for the crimes, thereby describing it as extrajudicial.
“On the night of 4th February 2022, it was brought to the attention of the Economic Fighters League that monetary compensation had been arranged for the families of those murdered in Ejura in June 2021, in the aftermath of the murder of Fighter Mohammed Ibrahim Kaaka without prosecution of any culprit in the murder.
“We warned that this step was extrajudicial and could jeopardize due process to administer justice in court as seen in murders of Zongo Seven among many in the past.”
In their commemorative statement, the Fighters said monetary compensation especially from Government administration is extrajudicial and gross disregard for due process and therefore urged every Ghanaian youth to arise up until justice is served in the murder of Kaaka and the many other murders that have been carried out involving state security personnel.
Background
On the dawn of June 25, 2021, at about 1:30 am, as Macho walked home without any shred of feeling he would be attacked, a mob sprang up from the deep of darkness and pounced on him with clubs and stones hitting him multiple times in the head. The goal of the mob by assessing the injuries he sustained was to kill him.
He is said to have shouted for help which drew the attention of some residents of Sabonline, a Zongo community in the Ejura township, but the arrival of witnesses was too late as Macho was lying unconscious upon their gathering.
Macho Kaaka was said to have been quickly rushed to the Ejura Sekyeredumase District Hospital but there was little the hospital staff could do considering the level of his injuries and fearing for his life. He was immediately bound to an ambulance and transferred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in the regional capital Kumasi for further treatment.
According to the brother of the victim, after initial X-ray examinations were done on his fractured skull, he was scheduled for an immediate surgical procedure to remove clotted blood from some fissures of his cranium.
He died two days later from his injuries on June 27, 2021.
A protest organized by the youth of Ejura over the gruesome murder resulted in the hasty deployment of a joint security team of military and police personnel.
The team’s unprofessional and condemnable actions resulted in the further killings of Nasiru Yussif and Murtala Mohammed and injuring of others including a 16-year-old who has had his leg amputated.
By Kabah Atawoge