Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has called on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to expedite its probing into the alleged military brutality against Bawku residents.

In a letter to CHRAJ dated November 6, Mr Ayariga demanded that the Commission provide the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) a deadline to present its information on the matter to speed up investigation.

According to the MP, he has noted the delay in the GAF's response after his complaint on June 14, 2023.

"I have seen copies of letters your office wrote to the Ghana Armed Forces to respond to my complaints. Since then, I have not heard anything in relation to the matter."

"I therefore demand that you give the military a deadline to respond to your inquiries. I also expected that CHRAJ would have visited the community to speak to victims to gather evidence beyond whatever the Ghana Armed Forces would say in their response but this has not happened."

Mr Ayariga stressed that he "will not accept any attempt by the military to avoid accountability for the killings of innocent people in Bawku."

He assured that the people of the Zoogin community will continue to demand justice for those who "were unjustly killed by members of the Ghana Armed Forces in their community."

Early this year, nine individuals were shot and killed by the military in separate attacks at different loca­tions within the Bawku Municipal­ity.

The tragic incident happened after the military allegedly accused civilians of deliberately defying curfew hours to engage in shootouts.

On January 26, this year, civil­ians; namely, Dauda, 50, and Sally, 59, both residents of Patelmi, in the Bawku Municipality, were allegedly subjected to severe torture and shot dead by the men in uniform after being accused of flouting curfew rules and regula­tions.

Again, on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, at about 1 pm, eight other civilians were shot and killed by the military at the Songuri and Zougin communities.

The deceased have been identified as Issah Kasim, Madi Mamudu, Mumuni Ndego, Issifu Karim, Eliasu Ayuma, Gafaru Su­maila, Kudus Haruna and Sumaila Adamu.

Five others died as a result of sporadic gunshot attacks, as civilians went ‘neck-to-neck’ with the security over the latter’s alleged brutalities.