Ga Mantse
The spectre of insecurity across the country is worrying. Hardly does a day pass without disturbing stories about fatalities occasioned by unnatural causes.
The annual Homowo festivities, those important dates on the cultural calendar of the Ga-Adangbe people of the Greater Accra Region, has not been spared this spectre.
Fatalities have been recorded in Omanjor, Teshie and Sowutuom during this year’s Homowo in those areas.
Are we as a people no longer interested in peace? Don’t we consider using dialogue to address misunderstandings as more appropriate? Where are our elders, one of whose roles includes using mediation to restore peace and harmony?
We cannot allow this jungle-like life to replace our age-old peace in especially the nation’s capital.
We are disappointed that intelligence did not pick up the brewing trouble so the law enforcement department could make necessary arrangements to nip it in the bud.
The fatalities and injuries could have been obviated had intelligence been efficient in this regard and processed.
We can bet that smoke was noticeable in the areas where the fatalities took place but this was not attended to.
It is important that those engaged in intelligence gathering section of law enforcement department take their tasks more seriously than we are seeing.
We call upon the appropriate government departments to engage with intelligence officers with a view to appreciating their challenges so these can be addressed.
The Homowo casualties, for instance, could have been detected because in some of the areas where the shootings took place chieftaincy misunderstanding existed. Since the sprinkling of the traditional corn meal or kpokpoi is done by the traditional leaders, trouble was waiting to erupt in places where more than one chief or priest exist.
The Ga Mantse has issued a statement through the Ga Traditional Council condemning the fatalities.
We wish to plead with the King to go beyond the condemnation and set up a committee of elders to deal with the underlying conditions which occasioned in the clashes and accompanying casualties which ensued.
Only a traditional approach to addressing such challenges can yield a long-standing result. Hasty methods will not last, and that is not what we want.
A traditional activity such as the annual Homowo becoming a source of fatalities will certainly put off tourists and the financial dividends which come with it.
We must be interested as a people in the caliber of weapons used by the hoodlums who fired the firearms during the festivities.
The influx of firearms into the country should engage our attention. We can bet that the firearms used by the young men are not ordinary pump-action firearms but higher grades of weapons which could have been smuggled into the country through our borders.
As pointed out in a previous commentary, weapons have seeped into the country through our porous borders, Burkina Faso being a typical example.
Some of these firearms are common in Bawku, their ownership by the youth being anomaly in vogue.
Let us all contribute towards stopping the ownership of illicit small arms by bad guys in our communities.