Soldier In Prison – Over ‘Drop That Chamber’ Video

Lance Corporal Lincoln Isaac Wassah, the uniformed whose amateur video on a campaign against the building of a new Parliamentary Chamber went viral on social media has been stripped of his rank and sentenced to 90 days imprisonment with hard labour, THE PUBLISHER gathered at press time yesterday.

He is reported to have been imprisoned at a military guardroom after he was called  from the 2 Recce Squadron in Sunyani.

The soldier,  was one of the several Ghanaians that publicly displayed anger and condemnation of a controversial decision by Ghana’s Parliament to construct a new chamber at the cost of $ 200 million.

His conduct, of making a video of his verbal condemnation of the proposed chamber and uploading it on social media has however not gone down well with the military authority.

According to the military, although Lance Corporal Lincoln Isaac Wassah  has the rights as a Ghanaian to enjoy his freedom of speech, it was against the rules military regulations was against the rules of engagement for him to have been seen in a military uniform publicly condemning the decision with the choice of diction he used.

When Lance Corporal Lincoln Isaac Wassah’s video went viral, it was greeted with mixed reactions from the public.

The was arrested by the Military High Command for interrogation and a  board of inquiry was set up by the Commanding Officer of the Recce Regiment Gondar Barracks to interrogate the issues.

Reports say the soldier showed no sign of remorse during his interrogations.

Civil Society groups have condemned the proposed chamber  with the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) saying overtures by the government to was unreasonable.

It said the country is bedeviled with a myriad of challenges begging for attention.

CDD-Ghana is the latest body to have added its voice to calls on the government to shelve the construction of the facility estimated to cause the tax payer some whopping $200 million.

The new 450-seater capacity chamber, when built, will have a chapel, a mosque, an eatery, and gardens.

The current chamber being used by the 275 MPs, according to Sir David Adjaye who designed the new chamber will be converted into a Conference Centre.

But the CDD-Ghana in a statement signed by its  Communication Specialist, Efua Idan Atadja, said the public anger is justifiable in view of the other pressing needs awaiting the government’s attention.

It said “CDD-Ghana does not believe that construction of a new and expanded chamber at an estimated cost of $200m is reasonable or justifiable at the present time. In the face of the numerous basic needs facing communities across the country, including a lack of safe and decent physical structures, facilities, and fixtures for many basic schools, a chronic shortage of beds in public hospitals, the deplorable condition of many of the country’s roads, and sundry other basic infrastructural and material deprivations facing various populations of citizens, construction of a new edifice for Parliament is a clear case of misplaced priorities.”