Prof. Gyampo on why Kasoa teen killers should not be blamed

Ransford Gyampo, an associate professor in the political science department of the University of Ghana, Legon, has stressed the need to tackle unemployment in an effort to deal with social vices in the country.

Speaking to Kojo Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday 9 April, Professor Gyampo said Ghana has failed to socialise the youth and inculcate in them the ideals of hard work.

“I think what happened is sad. It pains me. We should accept it that we have failed as a society and not put a lot of blame on the kids,” Professor Gyampo said.

“We are condemning whatever they did but the point is, as a society, we have failed collectively in not being able to socialise and educate people about the ideals of hard work.”

He added: “And the kids who did this, perhaps they know … ‘My senior brother is done with school and he has not found any job,’ and so you don’t see clearly where you are going after school. And if others ahead of you have not found jobs and all that, and you have a lot of advertisements as to how you can make money, then naturally the thinking maybe like this.”

Gyampo blamed the proliferation of juju men on TV and the popularity of get-rich-quick schemes among young Ghanaians on a lack of meaningful jobs.

“On your Facebook page, some will come and advertise that I am Mallam So, So and So: come and see me if you want … and all that."

“My point is, it appears that they don’t have work to do. The quickest way to get rich is to either join politics or form a spiritual church or be a juju man or something, and that is how come we have this proliferation.”



Background

Nicholas Kenni and Felix Nyarko are being held on suspicion of killing Ishmael Mensah in Atia Coca-Cola, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central Region.

The two teenagers were arrested over the weekend over the suspected ritual murder.

The police said their investigations show that the two teenagers were allegedly acting on the orders of a fetish priest who demanded human parts to perform a money-making ritual for them.

Confession

According to the police, the duo confessed to killing Mensah on Saturday 3 April in the Coca-Cola suburb, near the Great Lamptey Mills School.

The crime is said to have taken place in an uncompleted building.

The police said the suspects hit the victim with clubs and building blocks several times, killing him in the process.