Accra, March 29, GNA – The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Sunday denied reports of deploying troops to Kumasi, saying it does not also intend to do so.
Its role in the Operation COVID-19 Safety, it said, was also not to intimidate citizens but to provide security to them.
A statement signed by Colonel E. Aggrey-Quashie, the Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate said video, which has gone viral on social media platforms and reported by a television network that some troops had arrived at Kumasi to enforce the stay at home measure against the spread of COVID-19 was doctored.
“The fact is that the video showed troops who had completed the market disinfection exercise in Accra on Monday, March 23, 2020, five clear days before the announcement of the partial lockdown was made,” it stated.
“The task of the Ghana Armed Forces is to provide security for the citizenry and not to intimidate anyone.
“The imputed threatening statement has been found to have been deliberately doctored.
“The threatening words attributed to the troops, are, therefore totally untrue and only deliberately staged with obvious intent.”
In broadcasting the report, the GAF said the network could have verified the authenticity of the information with it, adding that the failure to do so had created fear and anxiety among the populace and the people of Kumasi and its environs, in particular.
The resulting negative image for GAF, the statement said, could therefore not be over-emphasised.
It urged the public to disregard the report in its entirety and trust in the GAF as a Force for good.
“We accordingly demand a retraction and an unqualified apology to the GAF from your renowned station…; we trust in your usual sense of fairness and cooperation”.
GNA