Tame mob justice instincts now!

Dark clouds do, indeed, hang over the country because Captain Mahama’s lynching is not the first time a citizen of the land has been murdered in cold blood.

The action of those notorious citizens who took the law into their own hands at Denkyira-Obuasi in the Central Region comes in the wake of pockets of lawlessness across the country.

The other day, it was a group of people who blocked roads in protest against the government’s inability to fix their roads. And then citizens of Somanya in the Eastern Region attacked the offices of the ECG for what they called high electricity bills and followed it up the next day with an attack on the local police station.

Ghanaians woke up yesterday morning to the news of the gruesome murder of Captain Maxwell Mahama, the leader of an anti-galamsey task force in the Denkyira-Obuasi area.

Video clips making the rounds on social media platforms paint Ghana as a backward society whose people still believe in the law of the jungle.

In an era when the Constitution makes it clear that everybody’s civil liberties, especially inviolable rights, should be respected, a group of people decide on the path of mob justice on suspicion of a person being a robber.

We believe everybody is saddened by the barbaric action by the Denkyira-Obuasi residents, perhaps except the DCE for the area who attempted to rationalise the indefensible.

The spectacle of mob action across a section of our communities must be indicative of the people’s loss of confidence in the police and, to a larger extent, the justice delivery system.

When a group of people decide to seek self-help to address their grievances, then something must be amiss.

In police-civilian relations, the police have always regarded the civilian population as allies in crime combat and the Police Administration shows off this principle by boldly displaying notices at police stations to that effect: “The public is an ally of the police.”

The actions of these few misguided elements in our society have put Ghana on the map as a country with very little regard for the rule of law.

The Daily Graphic thinks this may not be the case because we stand tall when it comes to the drivers of good governance, which include the rule of law.

But if people are pointing at Ghana today as a backward country following the gruesome murder of Captain Mahama, it is because, as our elders say, one bad palm nut has spoiled the soup.

That is why the Daily Graphic supports efforts by the Military High Command and the Police Administration to expose the perpetrators and deal with them in accordance with the laws of the land.

We are in pain because of the gruesome murder of Captain Mahama in his youth and while in the service of Ghana. We extend our condolences to the bereaved family, especially his wife and children, as well as his parents.

The Daily Graphic, as part of the media coalition against galamsey, is certain that his death will not be in vain.

We will continue with the fight against galamsey until all our citizens accept to do responsible mining that will ensure sustainable development.