Lt Gen Peter Augustine Blay – Chief of Defence Staff
INFORMATION REACHING DAILY GUIDE indicates that some fishermen at Sekondi were arrested and subjected to severe beatings amidst drills by some personnel of the Ghana Navy at the Sekondi Naval Base last Wednesday.
According to reliable sources, the fishermen, numbering about 22, were arrested early Wednesday morning for allegedly using light for fishing in the sea.
They were sent to the Sekondi Naval Base where they were purportedly pummeled and subjected to severe military drilling before being handed over to the police.
One of the victims, Kweku Mensah, 30, confirmed the allegation in an interview with DAILY GUIDE and noted that the 22 fishermen were in a boat with the inscription ‘240-EL’.
He said they set off on the sea from Sekondi on Tuesday evening and were heading towards Aboade on a fishing expedition.
He pointed that early Wednesday morning, the engine of their vessel developed a fault so they had to stop it and switch on a light in the boat to enable them to repair it.
He said as the fishermen were busily doing the repair works, all of a sudden, some personnel of the Ghana Navy from the Sekondi Naval Base came around in a small boat and arrested them for allegedly using light in fishing which was illegal.
Mensah continued that when the fishermen were interrogated by the personnel on why they were using an illegal method for fishing, they denied using the light to fish and explained that they rather switched on the light in their vessel to enable them to repair a fault in their engine.
He added that two of the naval personnel got inside their boat and waited for about one and a half hours when the fault in the engine was repaired.
He alleged that the two Navy personnel then directed the fishermen to sail to the Sekondi Naval Base where they were accused of using light for fishing and given some slaps and drills.
The fisherman told DAILY GUIDE that when the Navy conducted a search on the boat, no additional lights were found and that a generator which they used in pumping water was the only thing they retrieved.
Asked whether they reported the alleged assault by the Navy to the police, Mensah answered in the affirmative and said they reported to the police in Sekondi and were even given medical forms to attend hospital.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Supt. Bediako, Sekondi District Police Commander, confirmed that indeed the fishermen were at his outfit and were given medical forms when they alleged that they had been brutally assaulted by the Navy personnel.
He, however, noted that it was rather the personnel of the Ghana Navy who brought the fishermen to the police station for allegedly using light for fishing.
He could not confirm or deny the allegation of assault on the fishermen since, as he put it, he was not with them on the sea.
When contacted, Lt. Commander Michael Larbi, Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Armed Forces in the Western region, confirmed the arrest of the fishermen.
He, however, denied that the fishermen were beaten and explained that it was rather an argument that ensued between the fishermen and the naval personnel when the personnel realized that the fishermen had thrown into the sea the lights which could be used as evidence in court.
He also denied that the fishermen switched on their light to repair their engine and stressed that they were using it to fish.
“What the fishermen did was a ploy and they will always go to the press to gain public sympathy,” he asserted.
By Emmanuel Opoku
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