Captain Mahama's lynching: Culprits being processed for court – Police

The five persons arrested in connection with the gruesome murder of late Capt. Maxwell Mahama are being processed to be arraigned before court, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Cephas Authur, has disclosed.

Also, he said, the police has scaled up operations in the Denkyira Obuasi Township of the Central region where the army Capt. Mahama was grisly maimed.

The five are among the 80 people rounded up by the military Tuesday.

Late Capt. Mahama was with the 5 Infantry Battalion (5BN) at Burma Camp, Accra but on detachment duties at Denkyira Obuasi where he was lynched and burnt to death in an alleged case of mistaken identity.

Speaking Wednesday May 31, 2017 on Accra based Radio XYZ, Supt. Authur said some persons have been identified to have been involved in the dastardly incident after an identification parade.

“Already,” he added “investigations have commenced and we are processing them and we’ll soon put them before court.

“We have also scaled up our activities to get other persons who took part in the incident. In that we are calling on the general public to volunteer information.”

Stop the impunity

The Minority in Parliament Tuesday charged president Akufo-Addo to end what they described as the increasing culture of “impunity and lawlessness” being witnessed in the country.

Their charge comes in the wake of the untimely death Capt. Mahama. Commiserating with the family of the fallen soldier, they said in a statement signed by the Minority leader Harunna Iddrisu that: “We wish to take this opportunity to call on government to put an end to the culture of impunity and lawlessness which is pervasive across the country.

“Ghana has been universally acclaimed as an oasis of peace, order and stability, and everything must be done to ensure that this enviable record bequeathed to the New Patriotic Party government is sustained.”

No one will go free

President Akufo-Addo on his part Tuesday pledged to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.

In a series of twitter post, he said “no one will go free.”

Mahama lynching “act of cruelty”

Former President JJ Rawlings described the ghastly murder of a service man by civilians in Denkyira-Obuasi as “an act of cruelty.”

“Your loss is a loss to the whole country. Your husband, son and brother lost his life serving his country,” the former military ruler commiserated with the family in a statement.

Rawlings condemned the “unfortunate” incident and appealed to the affected institutions to “remain calm as the security agencies investigate the matter.”

“Taking the law into our hands in the manner the perpetrators of the act did was an act of cruelty. However, I implore the affected institution to remain calm as the security agencies investigate the matter,” he noted.

Rawlings added: “When the law does not seem to be giving people justice, such acts of cruelty resulting in the unfortunate loss of innocent life, is the end result. I call on the security agencies and the law courts to inspire confidence in the populace by acting swiftly and effectively when crimes are committed in our communities.

“The recent acts of violence in Somanya and Kumasi cannot be taken in isolation. They go to expose a weakness in the general response to crime.”