The La-Nkwantanang Municipal guards have been going tough on recalcitrant pedestrians in the Madina enclave subjecting them to corporal punishment for failing to use a newly constructed footbridge in the area.
Municipal guards who have been detailed to look out for such pedestrians face-off with them in the streets, giving them strokes of the cane and asking them to kneel down in the full glare of the public and wave.
Janet Adama, who was caught up in the situation, with others when GHOne T.V visited the scene had to contend with the angry guards for failing to patronize the footbridge.
Some of them told GHOne T.V that they failed to use the footbridge because there are no public signs to alert them.
However, the spectacle has been greeted with mixed reactions from the public who say it’s not within the rights of the city guards to punish so-called offenders in that manner.
Article 15(2) of the 1992 Constitution prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.
(2)
No person shall, whether or not he is arrested, restricted or detained, be subjected to—
(a) torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
(b) any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from his dignity and worth as a human being.
But according to the municipal guards eventhough they don’t have the power to effect any arrest, they have been authorised by the MCE and the Regional Minister to punish the recalcitrant pedestrians.
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