We are lost for words in expressing our disgust for the barbarism which was visited on a lone soldier at Ashaiman a few days ago. When the story was broken on social media, it sounded too crude to be credible for many who justifiably take posts through this non-traditional media with a pinch of salt. It turned out to be true anyway.
The on-pass soldier was pounced upon and lynched. There is no justification for the barbaric act which does not belong to our ambience.
We shudder to think that we still harbour within our societies persons who would treat their fellow humans this way.
We are constrained to recall the manner in which Major Mahama was murdered, which matter is still on the bosom of the court. We have written a lot about the indiscipline in the country. Our abuse of the freedoms has reached unacceptable levels.
How dare a group of persons lynch another human being as though we are in a jungle! Addressing such moral drawbacks require social reengineering of our ways. A few months ago, in the Central Region, a police officer was beaten up by a driver and his mate. We do not know what has become of the case.
Following on the heels of the murder of the soldier at Ashaiman, we expected that the police would swing into action professionally to arrest the suspects after a thorough investigation, something they are good at. Unfortunately, an angry military swung into action in a manner which has not helped matters. We do not dispute the fact that the part of the suburb the operation was undertaken is a crime-prone area, but the action only allowed the killers to perhaps flee the area only to return another day.
The police would have used their informants networking mechanism to pick the suspects within a few days.
The military action, helicopters et al, considering what this country went through in the days of the so-called revolution in which many innocent persons lost their lives and others went missing, many Ghanaians had uncharitable words for the manner the soldiers responded to the murder of the innocent person.
We do not by any iota of doubt endorse the action of the killers, no not at all. We are only concerned that an alternative which could have led to the arrest of the culprits has been messed up by the military operation.
We also recall the efforts put in by the Kufuor administration with Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor heading the Defence Ministry to change the narrative about the military in the light of the wounds inflicted by the PNDC junta. Now we have a fresh wound which needs healing.
The foregone notwithstanding, we call on the civil police to delve into the subject and pick up the suspects who killed the soldier and to ask the military to find an effective means to address the major PR challenge the action has created for the Ghana Armed Forces. Sometimes “the electrification of dozing civilians” can be counterproductive.
As for the killers, they must be found and dealt with according to the law.