Ranking Member on Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, James Agalga has said that Ministerial Committee may be limited in its ability to enforce some critical components to ensure a successful probe into the Ejura killings.

In an interview on PM Express, Former Deputy Interior Minister indicated that the nature of the committee is such that it "may not have any legal backings to enforce the attendance, compel the attendance of witnesses in production of documents."

This, according to Mr Agalga, is a major setback for that the Ministerial committee because it could make the Committee suffer in setting up a Public Inquiry to probe into the Ejura shooting by security personnel’s which left two dead and four others severely injured.

James Agalga explained that having the Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery chair the affairs of that yet-to-be-constituted Ministerial committee may be conflicting because the Police Service while will be the subject of the probe falls directly under his purview.

In this case, "if it becomes necessary for him [Interior Minister] to appear as a witness before that very committee, don’t you think amid he might be conflicted?"

“If you consider the fact that the matter requires us to even have Ministers, the Minister responsible for security appear as witnesses to help us unravel the circumstances that led to the shootings, you’d understand why a ministerial committee may not be appropriate because the sector minister [Interior Minister] would have to superintend over the affairs of that Ministerial committee," he said on JoyNews.

The Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament further suggested that the President should rather consider a full-blown enquiry as way to go, for a desired result to be achieved.

“We need to have a commission of enquiry which would be able to do a full, impartial and faithful enquiry.”

He added the Commission of enquiry may have powers that might be unavailable to the ministerial committee.

“For example powers such as the exercise of the High Court to order for the production of documents, to compel the attendance of witnesses, subpoena them if he likes, Ministerial Committee may not have any legal backings to enforce the attendance, compel the attendance of witnesses in production of documents,” he stated.

This comes after President Akufo-Addo directed the Interior Minister to conduct a public inquiry into the circumstances that led to the death of two persons in Ejura on Tuesday, June 29.

This occurred when the angry youth of Ejura hit the streets on Tuesday to demand justice and accountability over the murder of an activist, Ibrahim Mohammed popularly known as Kaaka.

Akufo-Addo indicated that the Minister has ten days to provide a detailed report of the inquiry.

“The Interior Minister is to provide a detailed report from the inquiry, with recommendations for appropriate action to be taken by July 9, 2021”, parts of the statement read.

However, Mr Agalda noted that the 10-day ultimatum is woefully inadequate.

“If you treat this as a matter of urgency and therefore stampede the inquiry, you are not going to have the full and impartial inquiry in the process. They are going to rush over the issues and give you a half-baked report which will not serve our interest in the long run,” he said