Lynching, galamsey, lawlessness all ‘cultural’ - Otabil

General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Dr Mensa Otabil, has said the recent lynching of army officer, Captain Maxwell Mahama at Denkyira Obuasi, the festering illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) menace and its attendant lawlessness are a reflection of Ghanaian culture.

Making reference to Captain Mahama’s lynching, which has been linked to galamsey, Dr Otabil, who was speaking at the 4th edition of the Ishmael Yamson and Associates business roundtable organised in partnership with Class91.3FM at the Golden Tulip Hotel on Wednesday, May 31, said: “The big news in Ghana is what happened recently to the dear soldier who was lynched. But really what happened to him is cultural. It is in our culture; we do it every day and we will continue to do it.”

Dr Otabil said: “The only thing is that it happened to somebody with visibility so we are worried but we will go back to the same culture which is the culture of disrespect for life and to rules procedure”.

“You cannot say they [the mob] have not gone to school, we cannot say they do not know human rights but in that circumstance, they chose to exhibit that behaviour,” he added.

Captain Maxwell A. Mahama was killed on suspicion that he was an armed robber, after a group of residents from whom he allegedly asked for directions during a Monday dawn jogging session spotted a pistol on him at Diaso in the Central Region. His body has since been airlifted to the 37 Militay Hospital in Accra for autopsy and further investigation.

“We have become a lawless people”, he emphasised, adding that “the law must work”.

He wondered why Africans have not challenged certain cultures that do not promote development.