A private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has condemned the recent comments made by the Commanding Officer of the Achiase Jungle Warfare School in the Eastern Region, Lt. Col. Jacob Cudjoe.

In a video that gained widespread attention on Thursday, Lt. Col. Cudjoe made it clear that the military would not hesitate to act if law enforcement agencies were unable to maintain order during the election period.

The commanding officer emphasised the military’s readiness to step in and take decisive action should the situation escalate beyond the control of the Ghana Police Service.

In response, Martin Kpebu criticised the military’s rapid involvement in the upcoming December 7 general elections, speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Friday, November 22.

According to the lawyer, a country like Ghana embraced democracy many years ago, particularly around 32 years ago, and he questioned why a military officer would speak in a manner reminiscent of the days of the PNDC or AFRC.

“Sometimes people don’t know, a lot of our citizens don’t know, they think as for the military it is just like straight and narrow. There’s a lot of politics, a lot of politics they are also divided, as NPP, NDC, those kinds of things in there,” he said.

The private legal practitioner went on to say that there is no place for what he described as “despicable” comments in Ghana.

“The military had their days when they ruled, they even sometimes did worse, so they should just stay quietly in the barracks. This election, we don’t want them coming back to do what they did in Techiman South, shooting citizens to death. We don’t want that to happen again. Nobody has asked Lt. Col. Cudjoe to come and beat citizens; he has no right to beat citizens,” he lamented.

Citing Article 210 of the Constitution, Lawyer Martin Kpebu emphasised the military’s role in defending against external aggression, a role that may be determined by the Commander-in-Chief. He also recalled instances of military brutality in past years.

“I have met other senior military officers who haven’t changed their minds; they are still interested in this instant justice. I remember when the Ashaiman poisoning of citizens happened, just around that time, I met a very senior officer, I will not mention his name."

He said, "For them, they went there to discipline the citizens; Ghanaians are undisciplined... that kind of thing," he stated.

He further emphasised that the military should not be deployed at polling stations and expressed confidence in the police’s ability to handle the situation.

“We do not need a backup immediately at the polling stations; they can be somewhere strategic but out of view, out of sight, and out of sound,” he concluded.