Ransford Gyampo weeps over Captain Mahama's death

Dr Ransford Yaw Gyampo, a political science lecturer and a research fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has mourned the loss of Maxwell Mahama, the Ghana Army captain who was murdered on Monday by a mob at Denkyira-Boase, a community in the Central Region.

In a heart-wrenching post on Facebook, Dr Gyampo revealed that Captain Mahama and his wife were his students at the university.

He narrated how, on one occasion, the soldier helped him to recover his stolen car and later gave him a security device to prevent future theft of the vehicle.

The lecturer said Captain Mahama used to express concern about his (Gyampo's) welfare and encourage him to be security conscious.

He said two months ago, he met Captain Mahama at a restaurant and teased the soldier that his poor performance in one of his courses was because of his wife.

Dr Gyampo said the captain's death had left him shocked and unable to eat. He said the late soldier should have fought off the mob with his gun, even if it meant killing people.

"U shouldn't have allowed this! U should have shot to kill in self defense. Captain, I am unable to eat.... I am thinking about your wife and children. How will they look at u in your casket? I saw the cement blocks being used to hit your head in the video. Captain, u have worried us," he wrote.

YEN.com.gh reported earlier that Captain Mahama was jogging on the dawn of Monday when some women from whom he had sought directions spotted him with a pistol and prompted the assembly man in the area that he was robber.

The assembly man, according to multiple media reports, quickly organised some youth in the town to beat Captain Mahama and burn him to death.

He was reportedly not wearing his army uniform and also did not have his identity card with him.

The soldier's death has pricked the conscience of the nation and sparked an avalanche of condemnation and outrage among many Ghanaians. News that he had a wife and two young kids deepened the pain that his death inflicted on many people.