A former military officer has said the incessant reports about civilian abuse by security forces enforcing the 14-day coronavirus lockdown seem to be the result of a lack of an appropriate system to deal with the lawbreakers.

Colonel Festus Aboagye (retd) said in all jurisdictions, a few people will flout the restriction on movements, however, it should not be the reason they should be manhandled.

“So the question then becomes ‘what do we do with such persons who do not have reasonable excuses or grounds to be walking around do so?’

“It appears to me that the police and the military have not set up appropriate mechanisms for arresting and detaining and…prosecuting those who break the law,” he said on PM Express on the Joy News channel on MultiTV.

Col Aboagye (retd) was commenting on the allegations of widespread brutality perpetrated by members of the Operation Covid Safety, tasked to enforce the restrictions on movements.

Videos circulating on social media seem to show some military personnel attached to the operation manhandling civilians found to be flouting the stay-home directive.

In the videos, the military men punish the said lawbreakers by asking them to do squats or other strenuous exercises.

Others have shown whip marks on their backs as punishment for coming out.

Although the Ghana Armed Forces has said some of the videos are fake or doctored to cast the military in a bad light, it has promised to punish any officer who maltreats any civilian.

Mr Aboagye said while it is important to enforce the law, there must be a humanitarian approach to it.

“In fact for the military, I will suggest that if they find any person breaking the law or the rule, they must hand them over to the police,” he said on the programme hosted by Evans Mensah.

The Security Analyst is currently under mandatory quarantine after arriving in Ghana three days ago.

Watch the entire show in the video below.