It will be shameful to throw up our hands in the air and whinge over railway track and sleeper thieves we prefer calling scrap dealers.
Blimey! Those rogues cannot stand the might of the state if we decide to go all out on them to stop the cannibalizing of our nascent railway system. Of course, going all out on them is the way to go in the face of the reality of the threat they pose our efforts to resuscitate this critical mode of transport in the country.
While we salute the government for doing all in its power to have the railway system back on track, we are unhappy that gangs of scrap dealers are allowed to take the whole country to ransom.
With a whole ministry now in place to expedite the railway project and even extend it for the first time to our northern frontiers we should explore effective security arrangements to flush out the criminal gangs and now.
When we descend heavily on them with the state security machinery deployed at full capacity the hoodlums will steer off the railway tracks.
Unusual measures should be used to tackle unusual thieveries, this being what we are witnessing today.
Reports about railway tracks and sleepers being stolen in Ashanti, Eastern and Western Regions continue to make sway in the media space. A suggestion that the criminals are having a field day is something we should not countenance in any way.
Such a capital-intensive venture should not be allowed to be toyed with by criminals. Imagine the impression the foreigners engaged in the project will have about us as they witness the incessant stealing of the railway tracks and sleepers.
Although some of the thieves have been arrested and await sentences others have punctured holes in the state kitty and for now on the run from the law.
The Railway Ministry and other relevant agencies should engage with the Police with a view to seeking an effective means of addressing the incessant thefts.
Having invested so much in the revamping of the system, no amount would be too much towards securing the journey so far.
With an appetite for railway tracks and sleepers since they fetch so much for them, the thieves will continue to trace the steel products even when the system is completed and running unless something drastic is done to make the criminal pastime non-lucrative.
If they are not discouraged now the railway system could be endangered when in future the scrap dealers turn their attention to the up and running engines.
It is worth repeating that the police intelligence unit working together with the railway ministry track the scrap dealers who have specialized in sponsoring the stealing of the railway parts. In some jurisdictions culprits would be shot at sight.
Let us see results now.