Security Analyst, Dr. Emmanuel Kwesi Aning has expressed anxiety about the general acceptance and glorification of violence and mob justice Ghanaians.<\/p>\n
Dr. Aning is worried about the general belief by a section of Ghanaians that they will not be punished when they offend the laws.<\/p>\n
His comments follow the widespread condemnation that has greeted a mob action by the youth in the Central Region town of Denkyira-Obuasi, who lynched the commander of a military detachment to the area claiming he was an armed robber.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The officer, Capt. Maxwell Adam Mahama, had gone for his usual early morning jogging when he met his untimely death. The police have announced five persons are in their grip\u00a0but a key suspect, William Baah, the Assemblyman who is also said to have instigated the act, is still on the run.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Wednesday, the Head of Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research (FAAR) of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) faults the law enforcement institutions which he said have failed to bring law breakers to book giving rise to an escalation in\u00a0the incidents of mob justice in recent times.<\/p>\n
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Scene of\u00a0violence ahead of the 2016 elections<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cViolence has become a currency in our country for some time now and our ability to punish people who use violence as a currency to serve as a deterrence has been lagging,\u201d Dr. Aninig told KojoYankson, host of the Show.<\/p>\n
According to him, the gradual acceptance that people can break the laws and yet go unpunished \u201cpaints a very striking and bleak picture\u201d.<\/p>\n
Way forward?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
However, the Security Analyst does not see a clear pathway to correcting this way of the Ghanaian thinking anytime soon because \u201cif we cannot use the law to serve as a deterrence\u2026this is what we see.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is absolutely no clear pathway because, as a nation, we don\u2019t see [violence] as an existential threat to us at all and therefore, we need to do something about. \u00a0And that is why we have allowed all these threats against our institutions to go on\u201d.<\/p>\n
He feared the development \u201cis causing true and real fear in our country\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Social re-engineering<\/b><\/p>\n
Contributing to the discussion, Anthropologist, Prof. Kodzo Gavua said he was\u00a0saddened that Ghana has had to demonstrate her ugly side to the world at a time she is celebrating 60 years of Independence.<\/p>\n
Prof. Gavua who is also Dean of the School of Arts at the University of Ghana, called for a social re-engineering \u201cand see about how we enforce the law\u201d because \u201cwe can\u2019t be over and above the laws of our country\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that it is just about attitudinal change but we must ensure that the laws work,\u201d he insisted.<\/p>\n
Deafening silence<\/b><\/p>\n
Psychologist, Nortey Dua could not fathom the apparent silence of elders and chiefs of the area, in providing information about the whereabouts of key suspects in the act.\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/4733278762290_5829113781296.jpg\")
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The entire community has been deserted as residents have fled their homes for fear of being arrested.<\/p>\n
But Nortey Dua said: \u201cWhen we disown and identify these things as alien to our culture\u2026then we are moving towards the social re-engineering that everybody is talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s hear the people [and chiefs] of Denkyira say that ‘we have evidence’\u201d he admonished.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Listen to Dr. Aning in the audio attached:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n