The Tema Regional MTTU Police Commander, ASP Timothy Dasaah has been interdicted for his poor handling of the riots that led to two persons being shot dead by the police on Tuesday. His interdiction came after a meeting between the Inspector General of Police, Patrick Acheampong and the Tema Divisional Police command. Protests by commercial drivers in Ashaiman against what they called extortion and arbitrary arrests by the police in the area degenerated into riots resulting in the use of live bullets by the police who killed two and injured many. Following the incident, the IGP visited the area to assess the extent of damage. He also visited the families of the victims to express his condolence. Speaking to Joy News, the Police Public Affairs Director, DSP Kwesi Ofori said the IGP directed the Tema Regional Police Command to investigate the matter. According to him, the IGP appealed to the police to accentuate their performance with a high sense of professionalism. A three member panel has therefore being set up to investigate the incident. The panel is made up of Bureau of National Investigation Officer, a police officer and a Tema Municipal Officer. But the Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr. Alfred Agbesi says he has no confidence in the panel. He told Joy News the members could not be trusted to do an impartial investigation. Instead he is calling for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the circumstances that led to protests by the drivers in the first place. Mr. Agbesi said it was also important to establish the truth regarding the allegations of the drivers. The First Trustee of the Ashaiman branch of the GPRTU, Mr. Augustin Kyeremeh told Joy News that drivers were not given the opportunity to appropriately defend themselves in court. He said traffic offenders who were sent to court were just asked if they were guilty or not guilty and that because they did not want to remain in cells they simply pleaded guilty and were slapped with heavy fines. According to him, the police were using drivers as goldmines and warns that if the situation is not checked it could degenerate into a major crisis. Agreeing with him, a legal practitioner, Mr. Egbert Faibille Jr. told Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoe that the practice where large numbers of drivers were arrested and hauled to the court that very day was improper. He said because offenders who pleaded not guilty to their charges ought to remain in court until the police prosecutors finished whatever business they had in court on a particular day before attending to them, it was practically impossible for offenders to get access to people who would bail them. Under such circumstances, he explained, many of the offenders were forced to spend the night in cells. Mr. Faibile stated that since many drivers did not want to stay in cells they simply pleaded guilty and paid the fines. He appealed to the Chief Justice, Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood to issue a directive to police prosecutors to stop the practice of taking traffic offending drivers to the court the very day they are arrested. Instead he said they should be given a day or two to appear in court. That according to him will give the drivers ample time to seek legal counsel. Story by Malik Abass Daabu