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Member of Parliament for the Asawase constituency, Hon. Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka has called on the Inspector General of Police, David Asante Apeatu to punish the former Commander of the Ashanti regional Police Command, DCOP Mensah Duku for lying over the Asawase shooting incident.

DCOP Doku is on record to have stated shortly after the incident that the seven suspected robbers were gunned down in the process of exchanging bullets with the Police.

He said, “We exchanged gunfire with the seven deceased at Manso Nkwanta when the police signalled to stop; they refused and started firing at the police and the police returned fire that led to their death.”

On Tuesday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced a compensation package of GH¢1,750,000 to be paid to the families of the victims of last year’s Asawase shooting incident.

According to President Akufo-Addo, GH¢250,000 for each of the 7 families is to be paid to the dependents of the deceased, explaining that “even though money cannot replace the life of a human being, it is being offered as a way of accepting the responsibility of the State in this tragic affair.”

The compensation comes after a committee established to investigate the killings confirmed that the seven people were not robbers and did not exchange fire with the Police as earlier claimed by the former regional Police Commander, DCOP Mensah Duku.

But the minority Chief Whip believes that DCOP Doku should be punished by the IGP for blatantly lying to the public over the issue.

“I am happy the state has accepted the responsibility of what the police in the Ashanti region did . . . why will a senior police officer insist the young men had guns when that was not true at all? It is unheard of. There is a need to sanitize the system. The IGP should be able to query the Regional Police Commander for telling lies to all of us," he said.

Also, the Asawase MP believes the amount of money presented by government to the bereaved families is too small.

"Though the money cannot bring back the lives lost, the amount is too small to compensate the bereaved families, because those able bodied men who were innocently murdered were bread winners and fathers.

"Who is going to take care of those children they have left behind. At least a milllion Ghana cedis would have been enough to settle the bereaved families," he maintained.