I have yet to pore over the full details of what President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had to say about the tragic early-morning lynching of Capt. Maxwell Mahama, of the 5th Battalion of Infantry, in the northwestern enclave’s township of Denkyira-Obuasi (or Boase, in some news reports) in the Central Region (See “Lynched Army Captain Was Protecting Illegal Chinese Miners – DCE” Adomonline.com / Modernghana.com 5/30/17), but I must readily confess that I do not have much confidence in the President’s vow to have the killers of Capt. Mahama dearly pay for their crime.
I also hope that the heat of anger and frustration does not prompt our soldiers to resort to the equally morally destructive act of scapegoating.
It has been said times without number that charity begins at home – and on the latter score, I have yet to see Nana Akufo-Addo bring the full heft and brunt of justice to bear on the pates of the killers of his own cousin and extant New Patriotic Party’s Member of Parliament for Akyem-Abuakwa-North, Mr. Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, savagely murdered in the privacy and sanctum of his own residence a little over a year ago.
In short, if the President can bring justice onto the pates of not only the killers of Mr. Danquah-Adu, but also those of Mr. Adams Mahama, at the time of his brutal acid-dousing assassination, the Upper-East’s Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, then, and only then, can we begin to seriously talk about the civilized rule of law and order and the effective administration of justice in the country.
We also need to highlight the unsolved point-blank assassination of Mr. Peter Kenyenso, then-Chief Executive Officer of Nkwanta-South, in the Volta Region, under the watch of the John Dramani Mahama-led government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Indeed, as I came across the caption of a news story retailing former President Mahama’s consolation of Capt. Mahama’s family, I could not help but vividly recall the ironic fact of the Kenyenso family’s bitter complaint at the time, that Mr. Mahama had not even deigned to attend Mr. Kenyenso’s funeral, let alone pay his last respects to the mortal remains of the man whom he had personally appointed to the post of DCE.
Then, of course, there was the equally shocking stabbing death of Mr. Abubakar Saddique, the staunch Akufo-Addo supporter, in the Asewase suburb of Kumasi. And the list goes on and on and on and on. And, of course, the levelheaded and morally upright citizen begins to wonder when are we going to get serious as a nation of civilized humanity? At least, I like to believe that, by and large, Ghanaians can be counted among the global comity of civilized nations of people with a poignant sense of justice and fair play.
Whether, indeed, Capt. Mahama, who may very well be a blood relative of the former President, was officially assigned to spearhead a platoon of soldiers protecting illegal Chinese miners, as has been publicly alleged by the District Chief Executive Officer of the Upper-Denkyira District, Mr. Daniel Appianing, is very significant, but it absolutely does not in any way justify the barbaric stoning to death of Capt. Mahama. It is, however, significant because this young soldier’s death inescapably reflects the increasingly dangerous seamy underbelly of President Akufo-Addo’s long overdue massive war against Galamsey, or illegal mining, and its wantonly destructive impact on our water bodies, our lands and forestry resources and our very survival as a people and a nation.
It is also significant to highlight the fact that just a couple, or so, weeks ago, Mr. John Peter Amewu, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, was bitterly complaining about how personnel from the Ghana Armed Forces were regressively engaged in the provision of protective cover for illegal miners, largely foreign-owned mining companies, was seriously hampering the eradication efforts of his ministry.
The barbaric killing of Capt. Mahama should not be allowed to divert public and national attention from the real issue at stake here. We need to get to the bottom of who got our patriotic men and women in uniform neck-deep involved in the wanton destruction of our environment and to seriously threaten our very survival.
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