Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has said it will not be out of place for the country to name a military barracks after deceased Major Maxwell Mahama.
He was of the view that such an act would aid the campaign to end mob violence. His remarks resonate with suggestions by the lynched soldier’s family and an assurance by President Nana Akufo-Addo to build a monument in honour of the fallen soldier.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Class FM’s Kwesi Parker Wilson during the state burial service of the late military officer on Friday, June 9, Minority Leader in Parliament Haruna Iddrisu stated: “Parliament supports the establishment of a monument for his memory; it can be a Major Mahama Barracks situated anywhere in Ghana but in a place visible so that we can all say ‘it is an end to mob justice’.”
The late soldier was lynched by a group of people at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region where he was on official duty to combat illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as galamsey.
The angry mob mistook Major Mahama for an armed robber after a snail seller spotted a pistol on him when he was reaching for his pocket to pay for snails he had bought from her while jogging on Monday 29 May.
Government has promised a Trust Fund to help the family of the deceased with a seed fund of GHS500,000 with President Akufo-Addo also pledging some GHS 50,000 from his personal coffers to the bereaved family.
Meanwhile, Mr Iddrisu has urged authorities handling investigations concerning the death not to relax after the state burial.
He stated emphatically that under no circumstance would Ghanaians accept any excuse such as lack of evidence which will enable the killers of the late Major Maxwell Mahama go unpunished.
“What we do not expect and will not accept is to hear either from the Police Service or the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) or the Attorney General that they are in want of evidence; that will not be countenanced by us,” he noted.
Mr Iddrisu holds a strong view that “it must be seen that justice is done”.
He explained that the reason for punishment is to serve as deterrence in order that other persons will be guided from repeating the same act.
He indicated that Major Mahama “demonstrated extreme professionalism and could have taken other lives as his life was being taken” yet he restrained himself.
“The best we can do in his memory in living and sacrificing for the state is to punish the perpetrators of the act and to unravel the mystery and the various stories behind his murder. The truth must be established and those culpable punished accordingly,” he observed.
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