A lawyer has unfortunately been killed by armed criminals, a sad incident which like others before it, calls for greater cooperation between the law enforcement department and the citizenry.
While we sympathise with the bereaved family of the slain lawyer, we wish to refer to the reaction of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) whose member was the victim of the senseless and wicked murder.
We do not want to believe that the lawyers have reacted only because one of their members has been killed their grief over which we sincerely share. All lives matter.
Some people are wondering whether the lawyers would have reacted at all, had the victim been somebody outside the learned profession.
The entries at the Ghana Police Service cenotaph at the Ghana Police Training School, Tesano, Accra has grown over the years as more law enforcement officers lay down their lives in the line of duty. Sharing a thought for them alongside the lawyer, would be such a wonderful gesture.
There is no doubt that had the police been receiving the necessary cooperation from the public regarding the proffering of information on the movements of criminals,many of the outstanding cases would have long been dealt with.
Considering their privileged status in society, we would rather the GBA widens its support to the police in the now sophisticated mode of violent crimes.
Limiting such support to, as it were, only their colleagues as evident in their statement, in our opinion, bothers on selfishness. Let them cover other segments of the population because we know they can.
We do acknowledge the efforts of the foremost internal security agency, the police, in reducing significantly the rate of violent crime in the country.
A suggestion that crime rate is on the high side even if subtly said can be demoralising and therefore counterproductive.
We do not dispute the fact that a lot more can be done in especially educating the public about crime detection and what to do when these are suspected. We cannot therefore dispute the call by the GBA for the education of the public in this direction.
We have particularly observed the deficit in knowledge about the subject of terrorism by especially persons living along our frontiers even as we note the state of preparedness of the security agents, to protect the territorial integrity of the country.
Many of the conundrums involving crimes in the country have thankfully been tackled with the suspects arrested and already imprisoned or making appearances in court.
We would plead with the public to give information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects in the murder of the lawyer.
We trust the police to make a major headway especially when we, including the GBA, support them and rightly so.