How I heard about my son’s death – Mother of slain soldier recounts

She recalled in an interview with Accra-based Joy News that it started with a colleague of Sherrif’s coming to their home to ask whether he had come home given that he had left 37, where he was attending a course with the reason that he wanted to go and see his mother.

Madam Akyaa said according to the friend, her late son was wearing his military trousers when he left 37. “He was wearing a uniform below and a shirt with his other dresses in his military bag,” she said dispelling the claim that he may have gone elsewhere instead of coming home.

“He doesn’t go anywhere else except coming to my place only even though we have relatives in Accra including his grandmother,” she stressed.

She said after unsuccessfully trying to reach him having felt uneasy about the development, “I got a call from Burma Camp with the caller asking of my location but I offered rather to go to Burma Camp, they rejected that offer and said they were coming.

“So, I continued with my washing till one of his uncles came here and I informed him of what was going on, he also said he wanted to have a discussion with me.

“Just then one of my brothers came from a corner and slumped after mentioning Sherrif. So, I asked, is Sherrif dead for which reason you have slumped?”

In the minutes that followed, she recounted: “people started trooping in and looking on their phones, so I snatched one of the phones and I saw Sherrif in uniform and another dead person on the side, when I looked at the deceased, I knew it was Sherrif. I shouted that my son had died.

“I called the military hierarchy and informed them of what I got to know but they dispelled the news and said they were on their way, I hadn’t confirmed the death but I was profusely weeping.

“So, when they came, they confirmed the death and it was really harrowing for me,” she added.

The March 7 military swoop

Dozens of military officers stormed Ashaiman in the operation that saw some soldiers entering the town in trucks, with an armoured car plus a helicopter hovering over the town.

The exercise is said to be in response to the gruesome murder of a young soldier, Trooper Sherrif Imoro, by some unidentified persons on Saturday, March 4, 2023.

Videos of the invasion shared across social media show various forms of assault being meted on residents by the rampaging officers who subjected some of the residents to severe beatings.

In a statement released in the early hours of March 8, the Ghana Armed Forces admitted authorizing the swoop which led to the arrest of 184 persons, as well as the seizure of suspected illegal drugs.

In the said statement, they also acknowledged excesses may have resulted in the swoop but failed to apologize for or commit to conduct a probe on same.