No soldier or army personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has brutalised any Ghanaian citizens as far as the enforcement of the COVID-19 lockdown is concerned, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Southern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier General Abraham Yeboah Nsiah, has said.

According to him, all the videos of soldiers allegedly brutalising ordinary Ghanaians which are circulating on social media and being linked to the enforcement of the lockdown are false.

The partial lockdown affects Greater Accra, Greater Kumasi, Tema and Kasoa.

It is part of the measures being used by the government to mitigate the spread of the virus which has, so far, killed five out of the one hundred ninety-five people infected with three full recoveries.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Brigadier General Nsiah said: “I must also emphasise that some videos evolved concerning some brutalities being meted out by some soldiers to some civilians. Let me assure Ghanaians that the soldiers that we have are well-trained. They are professionals. They do not brutalise.”

“We have deployed 1,000 soldiers on the field. Out of this number, we have only one incident and that incident had nothing to do with slapping. It is something that we thought it was not of our standard and we are dealing with it.

“That soldier involved presently, has been withdrawn to the barracks, so, all the videos you are seeing are false.

“I do not know the intention behind it but whatever it is be assured that the soldiers are professionals. They do not brutalise.

“We do not allow it and we are never going to allow it. I go round myself and educate them.”