A few days ago, Ghana was hit with the tragic news of the lynching of Captain Mahama, now major Mahama ; a warrior on whom darkness fell accidentally.
Several views and opinions have been expressed by notable people and I guess everyone of them have been in condemnation of this barbaric act.
I want to begin with Maxwell Mahama from his heydays although I didn't know him personally, based on testimonies from friends who knew him. Quiet, calm, gentle, he rose to join the table of the men in uniform. A star that was rising in his family. Awesome husband to a pretty young woman, amazing father to two lovely boys. Deployed to defend the people against the ills of a canker that was eating deep into our land. A habit he had developed could not be done away with; jogging to keep fit.
Stopped to buy something from some women, they say. Spotted with a gun, the people were beckoned to pursue him; the so called armed robber, digging his would be grave. The mob lynched him: they stonned him, clubbed him and threw blocks at him. I still can't fathom why that particular dude kept throwing blocks at him, directed at his head. Even when they should have left him, it was obvious their only aim was to kill him as they shouted in the local dialect; he was not dead.
So people with virtually no power to grant life to another human being, thought they had the power to take another man's life. People who were neither the Police nor the only office vested with the power and authority to prosecute people in our land; hiding under the guise of a mob action where no single person would be blamed for any action taken. They lynched their so called armed robber to death in broad day light. Proud of their actions, they moved on with their lives till it was detected that he was no armed robber. Yet, his life had been taken.
I still want to know how these people thought they could try Maxwell Mahama, prosecute him and sentence him to death. In accordance with Article 13 of the 1992 constitution, "(1) No person shall be deprived of his life intentionally except in the exercise of the execution of a sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under the laws of Ghana of which he has been convicted."
The mob from Denkyira , please answer me; are you the police or the judiciary? Where do you stand? I need answers.
What made you think you could give him such degrading treatment, violating his dignity? You treated him as a convicted person without first convicting him of any criminal offence. 'Thief' you all blurted out, I still have not seen what he stole.
How many times have the people taken the law into their own hands? I've heard several people say the law doesn't work in Ghana, our systems do not work, so what? You take the law into your own hands and lynch innocent people? Doesn't that amount to lawlessness contributing to the failure of our systems? What happened to 'a person charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty?' according to Article 19(2)(c) of the 1992 Constitution.
Since the laws of our land do not work as the mob claims: afterall, isn't that why they decided the people's justice was a better option? Can we ensure that every single person involved in the lynching of Maxwell Mahama is made to face the full regals of the law? Can we ensure henceforth that every other person lynched by a mob action is served justice? Can we ensure that those who claim to know better than the laws: who become the police and jury all by themselves have a brush with it to serve as a detterent to us all?
My condelences to the family.
Even in lynching, the gentleman you were was evident.
A gentle soul.
I'm adding my voice to the call for justice. Justice must be served.
Fallen star Major Mahama
Gallantly you served and soared
Mistakenly darkness fell on you but your memory lives on.
Rest well you warrior!
