The Director General of Public Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Brigadier General Eric Aggrey Quarshie has said that his outfit has been praised in certain quarters for invading Ashaiman weeks ago after the murder of one military officer.

General Aggrey Quarshie stated that there have been several calls to his outfit to thank them for the operation. He said the callers told them that the action rid the town of many misfits.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting and National Public Relations and Communication Summit of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Ghana, he said they had to do that because Ashaiman has become a no-go area and notorious for many criminal activities.

“I am not defending or justifying our actions but the number of calls that I have received and the institution has received, thanking us for the actions in Ashaiman, you won’t believe it.”

“People are asking us ‘General, when will you do that again?’ Because, if you live within that enclave and at certain times of the day you couldn’t go to certain areas and these things happen, you will appreciate,” General Quarshie stated.

The military officer spoke at the IPR AGM held at Kwahu-Nkwatia in the Eastern Region under the theme ‘Staying Credible Through Rough Patches’.

According to him, but for the pictures taken by soldiers who were deployed there and posted on social media, the issue would have been handled in a different way.

“The funny thing is that some of the pictures you saw were taken by soldiers and posted on their Facebook and WhatsApp pages,” General Quarshie stated.

Asked by the moderator of the programme, Dzifa Bampoh if he will support stakeholders’ engagement in dealing with such issues, General Aggrey Quarshie was of the view that it is time the use and management of social media is taken another look at.

“But for that, some of the issues may not have come out. But I just want you to know that there are a lot of people who are happy that we entered those areas in Ashaiman. Maybe if you live around that place, you will appreciate,” he explained.