The football career of a 28-year-old resident of Kasoa Walantu in the Central Region, Fuseini Mohammed, was shattered when a policeman allegedly shot his leg during a demolition exercise at Walantu four years ago.
Today, Mohammed is unable to pursue his career as a professional footballer, since he has not been able to raise GH�4,000 to undergo surgery.
The incident
Narrating his ordeal to the Daily Graphic, Mohammed said on July 21, 2010, a policeman mistakenly shot at his leg during the demolition of some structures at Walantu.
According to him, he was playing football on a field when a team of policemen, with the aid of bulldozers, began the demolition exercise.
He said in the course of the exercise, gunshots were fired in the air to disperse the crowd that had gathered at the demolition site.
In his attempt to rescue a little boy from the danger posed by the exercise, Mohammed said his leg was shot in the melee.
Medical attention
After he had reported the incident at the Kasoa Police Station, he was offered a medical form for treatment at hospital, but the process leading to full recovery from the injury had been slow due to the lack of funds.
�I was rushed to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the bullet was removed, but for all these years I still feel pain in my right leg and I find it difficult to move around,� he said.
He added that he had written several letters of appeal to the Police Administration for help to foot meet his medical bills but had received no positive response.
Public appeal
Mohammed�s mother, Adiza Mahazu, appealed to the Police Administration and the government to duly compensate her son.
She said she had sold everything she had to foot her son�s medical expenses, adding, �Now I have no money on me and so I humbly ask the authorities to come to our aid because my son was the breadwinner of this family and he is suffering.�
Police reaction
Responding to Mohammed�s concerns, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur, said Mohammed needed to follow up on the petition he said he had written to the Police Administration.
He said Mohammed should check at the Police Headquarters to see where the matter had reached, since action would be taken on the matter once he had petitioned the Police Administration.
"He should follow up to the headquarters, so that we can see where the matter had got to," he added.
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