Military, police set up committees for peaceful co-existence

The military and police high commands have agreed to set up joint committees in regions with military base to ensure peaceful co-existence of soldiers and police personnel. The decision comes on the heels of Wednesday’s bloody clash between the military and police officers in the Northern region. Rampaging soldiers assaulted some police personnel in the Tamale metropolis as they stormed the Regional Police Headquarters to free their colleague who was arrested as a suspect in a case. “The Police and Military high commands have taken serious exception/view to yesterday’s clash between Police and Military Officers at Tamale and condemn it in no uncertain terms,” a joint statement issued by the two security agencies said on Thursday. The statement said after a meeting at the Interior Ministry on Wednesday after the incident, it was agreed: “To set up committees of Police and Military membership at all regions where there is Military base for the purposes of overseeing to the peaceful co-existence of both services.” The committee will also “deal promptly with acts of indiscipline among their ranks and file and constantly remind Officers that they are not above the law, must respect the rule of law and to follow their respective chain of command procedures for addressing breaches of law and acts of indiscipline”. The statement said the two security institutions will continue to collaborate in investigating the clash and similar existing cases and officers found culpable would be sanctioned in accordance with law. A team of senior police and military officers were subsequently dispatched from Accra to Tamale where a durbar was held with the hope of bringing lasting solution to the causes of the clashes, particularly in the region. However, the durbar, 3news.com gathered, ended inconclusively on Thursday. Read: Tempers rise at supposed peace meeting between military and police high commands Meanwhile, the joint statement said, “Prior to the clash on [Wednesday] 16th May, 2018 at Tamale, the police and military high commands had met on Tuesday 24th April 2018 to identify causes of clashes between and Police officers and had come out with agreed strategies to address such occurrences which implementation is underway. “It is therefore regrettable, the clash between Police and Military officers on [Wednesday].” By Isaac Essel |3news.com | Ghana]]>