Although the official three days of mourning declared by President John Mahama for the fallen eight persons have elapsed, informally Ghanaians are still grieving.
The families of the fallen persons will mourn for longer, the thought of their beloved ones going to remain with them for the rest of their lives.
We too as responsible compatriots should be measured not only in our utterances but our postures.
It is for this reason that we find it reprehensible the emergence of fresh subjects of discourse on the public space in the past two days.
The death of the eight distinguished personalities and how the force majeure brought us together as one people was a rare occurrence. We thought we could build upon it to douse the politics-generated heat in the country.
Those who expected that the tragic loss of the eight had occasioned a change in our approach to issues of national importance appear to have gotten it wrong.
The badmouthing continues and the politically-motivated arrests and, if you like, arbitrariness of office assuming a new status.
We had occasion to state that it seemed the 1979 ambience was reloading; and for those who witnessed those dark days, they can only get pensive when they see the resemblance of the days they dreaded. Such persons know the fallouts from the suspension of the rule of law and when citizens assigned the coercive power of state acted arbitrarily.
As we compose this commentary, a certain man who works with a radio station in Kumasi is reported to have gone missing.
It is being alleged that some persons suspected to be from the National Security apparatus picked him up. The arresting officers or abductors left no details about who they were and where they were taking him to.
The nearby Ejisu Police Command said they did not know anything about the arrest.
Earlier, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) aligned politician fondly called Pope had the remote-controlled gate of his residence destroyed by persons claiming to be cops on a mission. They said they did not have to possess a warrant before searching his house.
The nearby Japan Motors Police Station had no knowledge who the said cops were.
The security personnel might have genuine reasons to carry out their duties, but shouldn’t they follow procedure?
Yesterday, the leadership of the New Patriotic Party stormed the Police Headquarters to demand the release of Obama Pokuase.
We do not condone breaches of the law. Since nobody is above the law in this country, the law enforcement agencies must to their work according to the law establishing them.
Utterances on social media which border on threats to lives of other citizens, including the President, should be investigated.
In all that we do, however, there must be fairness. During the days of Nana Akufo-Addo in office, there were equally unmeasured rhetoric by National Democratic Congress (NDC) activists against the then President. Some even publicly prayed that the President should die in a plane crash. Nobody was arrested then, and that ensured calmness in the political environment. Today, some rhetoric have been spewed and the usual National Security muscle-flexing is in full flight.
The drama surrounding the arrests sometimes by people who appear to be ruling party activists is worrying. They flex their muscles in a manner which smacks impunity.
Let the authorities in charge undertake their duties in strict consonance with the established law so the fear of arrests as it pertained under the obnoxious days of the Preventive Detention Act (PDA) and 1979 does not return. We need our freedom of expression.