A former District Chief Executive of the Upper Denkyira West Assembly says the dastard lynching of an army captain at Diaso comes as no surprise to him because the people there appear pre-disposed to savagery.
Piecing together his experiences during his three-year tenure as DCE, Ambrose Ashia said he observed the people of Denkyira-Oboasi in the Central region have a war-like temperament.
Naked, bleeding and bloodied, an army captain posted to the area about three weeks ago got no mercy from some men in the mining town on suspicion of armed robbery.
A video showing a woman igniting a fire on the mortal remains of the soldier has ignited fresh national outrage.
Social media is awash with anger and the President, Nana Akufo-Addo has vowed to deal with the culprits who murdered the man now established to be the nephew of former President John Mahama.
Relatively little known, the Denkyira-Obuasi area is now the center of immense national interest and the scene of massive hunt for Monday morning mob’s moment of madness.
As the country struggles to come to terms with the tragic case of instant justice, the former DCE Ambrose Ashia shared his gleanings of the largely rural community of more than 60,000.
Speaking on Accra-based Asempa FM Tuesday, Ambrose Ashia said while he does not intend to stereotype the residents, he had observed some dominant traits among the people.
According to him, those who urge peace in the conflict-prone district are seen as weak and womanish.
“I don’t intend to disgrace anybody”, he prefaced a tale of lawlessness he had witnessed after he was appointed DCE in 2014.
He said sometime past, a young man who was returning from an all-night church service, was nearly lynched on suspicion that he was a serial killer.
According to him, the Assemblyman for the area was fingered in that attack on the man returning from prayers.
In the lynching of Maxwell Adam Mahama, the Assembly man is once again suspected to have played a role. The police are now on a man-hunt for the Assembly man.
In another incident in 2014, Mr. Ashia said a Chinese contractor tasked to build a road from Ayamfuri to Asanweneso was harassed several times by youth in the area.
He said they would go to the site, seize equipment, beat up workers and threaten the contractor not to return to the site.
The youth said the contractor had failed to fulfil his social corporate responsibilities to the community, the former DCE explained.
Ambrose Ashia said a chieftaincy dispute in the district is also threatening the peace as residents are divided among claimants to the stool.
The divided influence of traditional authority, he said, fuels lawlessness in the Denkyira-Oboasi area.
In his assessment, “psyche of the community is that of impunity savagery and lawlessness”. Otherwise ‘how dare a woman pour petrol on a soldier?”
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