Frederick Amanor Skalla, the police officer who abused the nursing mother
The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is advocating a compensation package for the nursing mother assaulted by a police officer in a video that has provoked national consciousness.
In a statement Saturday, the Commission’s Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, Joyce Afutu said the increasing brutality of the police is not just barbaric but an affront to the dignity of citizens.
She was reacting to the video in which a police officer, Frederick Amanor Skalla, was filmed assaulting Patience Osafo for allegedly disobeying his orders at the microfinance outfit.
Taking social media by storm Friday, the video has triggered a public outcry, with sections of Ghanaians calling for a harsher punishment for the officer in question.
While it lauded the police administration for the many reforms it has undertaken to build a world-class law enforcement agency, the NCCE says it is worried that some “deviants in the service” are eroding the gains made so far.
“The Commission wishes to state that, this heinous act is outrageous, unacceptable and an affront to the dignity and fundamental human rights of the victim and the baby,” the statement read.
“The NCCE whilst expressing empathy to the victim and her family calls on the Interior Ministry, Ghana Police Service and all appropriate agencies to investigate the matter swiftly and bring the perpetrators to book,” it added.
But the Commission said the punishment of the police officer concerned would not be enough to compensate for the harm caused the woman.
It has called for the nursing mother to be fully “compensated for the physical and psychological trauma that she has suffered.”
“The NCCE reiterates the need for the citizenry to respect and uphold the fundamental human rights of all persons to promote constitutionalism in Ghana,” the statement concluded.