Mahama lynching: House of Chiefs condemns lawlessness

The National House of Chiefs has condemned the gruesome lynching of the Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama and described it as “appalling”.

It called on all Ghanaians to exercise restraint while the state security agencies undertake thorough investigations into the “despicable” act.

A statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the House, Mr Stephen Owusu, reminded Ghanaians that taking the laws into their own hands, especially visiting brutal acts on defenceless persons was not a civilised way of dealing with issues.

Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama was lynched by a mob at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region on Monday.

Fourteen persons have since been picked up.

Seven of them appeared before a district court in Cape Coast on Thursday and have been remanded for two weeks.  

“Attacking and killing someone on a mere suspicion makes our society unsafe, and expose each one of us to grave risk. The House wishes to express its condolences to the family of Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama, especially his wife, children and parents”, the statement added.

It said the country had witnessed increasing cases of lawlessness characterised by impunity and added that “the fact that most of the culprits escape punishment seem to portray lawless behaviour as part of our way of life.”

It said there had been attacks on state institutions and personnel as well as police stations, and that all these barbaric acts occur because of lack of collective will on the part of the relevant state institutions and citizens alike in enforcing law and order.

It said the gruesome murder of Captain Mahama was a wake-up call and urged all to act to save the situation before it got out of hands, and urged the security and allied institutions to stringently and expeditiously enforce the law in order stop and prevent the country from sliding into anarchy.

It urged Ghanaians to ensure that criminals, who were even caught in the act were handed over to the law enforcement agencies because “this is the norm of all civilised societies and it must become part of our own culture”.