The Crusading Guide

J.H. Mensah blames government?For lawless use of arms

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr J.H. Mensah, is quoted as blaming the proliferation of arms in Ghana and their recent abuse by armed robbers, juvenile adventurers and land guards on the NDC government. Mr Mensah, the paper says, noted with dismay that the Rawlings phenomenon has bequeathed to the hitherto peace-loving Ghanaian society, a "gun totting and trigger-happy culture".

"It is not just the students, it is not just the land guards, it is not just the armed robbers, it a whole new culture that has descended on Ghana", he quoted as saying. The Crusading Guide says citing instances of government?s abuse of might and power, and open and reckless use of arms on innocent and unarmed civilians, Mr Mensah recalled the indiscriminate shooting of students of the University of Ghana, Legon and the Institute of Professional Studies which ended in a lady being sprayed with bullets, some of which lodged in her body for a long time.

He also mentioned the gunning down of four people by the government?s security agencies and members of the Association for the Defence of the Revolution (ACDR), during the ?Kume Me Preko? peaceful march and the shooting of a boy at Nima in Accra. Mr Mensah is said to have regretted that "these excesses have been carried over from a revolutionary era into a democratic dispensation".