Execute penalty for death sentence for armed robbers

Sunyani, (B/A) Nov 4, GNA - Many residents in Sunyani have called for the carrying out of the death penalty for armed robbers to deter the dangerous criminal practice.

Respondents in an opinion survey by the Ghana News Agency mostly agreed that executing armed robbers after conviction would frighten would be perpetrators and allow law-abiding citizens to go about their daily activities without fear.

Mr. Gabriel Dongi, a staff member of Starlife Assurance Company, in Sunyani, stressed that actualizing the death penalty would help keep armed robbers away from communities and allay fear among the travelling public.

The survey was about the high rate of armed robbery and its attendant effects on citizens.

Mr Dongi blamed the crime on what he described as a serious defect in the training of our children, especially at home, on good habits and morality.

"Some parents and family heads spend a lot of their time and resources in finding material solutions to the problems of their children and members of the extended family but give very little attention to their moral training and habits," he noted.

He stressed that when children are properly trained they would adopt positive value systems that would guide their conducts and attitudes in the larger society.

The bad practice having children without thinking about how they would cater for is another contributory factor to the upsurge of armed robbery in Ghana, the Starlife staff added.

He emphasized that right from birth most of such children are deprived of their basic needs such that they start fending for themselves at very tender ages.

He noted that as they grow up some of these children because of the lack of proper parental care yield to the unacceptable effects of streetism such as thievery and armed robbery," Mr. Dongi added.

Ms Mavis Asante, a banker, stated that some people occupying responsible positions indulge in corrupt practices to acquire wealth at the expense of the state.

"Their affluence lifestyles seem to motivate some youth, especially those with poor upbringing, to get rich overnight through armed robbery.

She said the police alone cannot fight armed robbery, but pointed out that it was an "open secret" that sometimes civilian informants were betrayed by the police.

"This unprofessional behaviour of some police officers is preventing the public to do what is expected of them in crime solving," Ms Asante said.