Denkyira-Obuasi residents suffering from paranoia – Kwesi Pratt Jnr

Even though there is no justification for the lynching of Captain Maxwell Mahama, residents of Denkyira-Obuasi suffers some form of psychological trauma as a result of the frequent armed robbery incidents perpetrated in the area, according to Kwesi Pratt Jnr.

The managing Editor of the Insight newspaper was commenting on the killing of the junior military officer by residents of Denkyira-Obuasi in the Central Region.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji programme, Kwesi Pratt said: “Nothing can justify the lynching of Captain Mahama…but I have been following this story and I am told that this community has been under frequent armed robbery attack.

Anybody who has been a victim of violent attacks suffers a certain trauma; if you look at the whole account of what happened, you will come to realise that something went wrong.

I have come to the conclusion that the community may be suffering from collective or community paranoia.

They have had difficulty of armed robbery and so when they hear of it they can’t think again, they react on the basis of their emotions and so on; of course when you act on your emotions and so on it doesn’t diminish your responsibility…we need to have systems in place which enable communities who suffer violent crimes to overcome their psychological defects…”