One of the stories in this edition is unusually disturbing. It is about the unbridled level of indiscipline among the youth today.
Unfortunately, a section of youth in our Zongo communities are associated with many of the unruly behaviour.
It is not about stereotyping but a reality which many Islamic clerics and imams have incessantly sermonised about to no avail.
Bad politicians have found among such youth willing hands for the execution of their dirty works over the years, even as their children study in prestigious institutions.
Ironically, the Islamic faith is underpinned by discipline and lawful conduct, indeed with no place for unruliness.
The National Chief Imam, in his pre-Eid-ul-Fitr admonition to Muslims, called for moderation as members of the faith mark the end of the month-long period of fasting.
By and large, the celebration in Accra was conducted without incidents. However, on Thursday, a day before the end of the fasting, as the story on page 13 pointed out, a group of youth while going for the burial of a deceased person or returning deliberately breached the traffic regulation by facing oncoming vehicles on one of the sections of the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange in Accra. A cop on duty then advised against the dangerous conduct but was brutally assaulted by the young men.
Their action, besides being criminal, also breaches tenets of the Islamic faith; those who perpetrated it must be fished out and punished.
The misconduct was perpetrated at a time when Muslims were on the last day of the Ramadan fasting, a period demanding the highest state of discipline.
Makes us wonder whether some youth and even others outside that age bracket appreciate the sanctity of the holy month of Ramadan.
They certainly do not. Had they, the assault of the poor police officer who was only performing his duty to society would not have taken place at all.
We condemn in no uncertain terms this act of lawlessness by irresponsible riff-raffs who think that there is pride in such rude and crude behaviour, conduct which has no place in the peaceful faith of Islam.
It is unfortunate that in spite of repeated calls on such persons to conduct themselves in manners commensurate with the tenets of Islam, the uncouthness and incivility continue.
Indeed, Islam enjoins the adherents of the faith to respect constituted authority of the state. After all, laws are in place to ensure that the state of nature does not prevail among the comity of the civilised.
What was the point in beating up a fellow human being clad in the uniform of the state as a police officer?
Even without uniform, it is foolish and animalistic to descend upon another human being simply because one is angry with them.
We call on the leaders of the Zongo communities and clerics not to rest on their oars but to continue to take the illuminating sermons to the dark corners of the communities so the unruly youth will understand that the faith they were born into has no place for indiscipline.
To those who reacted negatively on social media, we call on them to stop the stereotyping, the misconduct of those who assaulted the cop does not represent Islam.
