High Court Orders State To Pay Compensation To Victims Of Techiman South Collation Centre Shooting

The High Court in Wenchi has ruled that the state must pay GH₵45,000 in damages to each of the six individuals who sustained injuries during the shooting incident at the Techiman South collation centre during the 2020 parliamentary elections.

The incident occurred after disturbances broke out at the collation centre ahead of the announcement of Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah as the Member of Parliament-elect. Security personnel, in an attempt to control the situation, fired shots that tragically resulted in the deaths of two people and injured several others.

The injured parties subsequently filed a lawsuit at the High Court, claiming that their constitutional right to life, as enshrined in Article 13 of the 1992 Constitution, had been violated. The applicants argued that the security officers’ actions were excessive and unjustified.

The state, represented by the Attorney General’s office, acknowledged that shots were fired but argued that the security personnel had only fired warning shots to disperse a crowd that, according to the state, intended to disrupt the collation process and endanger electoral officers. The state contended that the officers were justified in using reasonable force and suggested that the injuries might have been caused by gunshots from within the crowd.

However, the court disagreed with the state’s position, finding sufficient evidence that security officers had shot directly into the crowd in an indiscriminate manner. The court ruled that there was no constitutional justification for the security personnel’s actions, which violated the plaintiffs’ right to life.

Despite this, the court did not award the full damages requested by the plaintiffs, which included GH₵5 million for the first applicant and GH₵2 million each for the other five. The judge noted that the plaintiffs had not provided enough evidence to justify the higher amounts. Nonetheless, the court ordered the state to pay GH₵45,000 to each of the six individuals as compensation for their injuries.

Source: GhanaFeed.Com