We're glad DCE has 'been dealt with' - Mahama's dad

Captain Chubby Adam Mahama (RTD), father of lynched army officer, Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama has said the family of his late son is happy President Nana Akufo-Addo has suspended the DCE for Upper West Denkyira, Daniel Appianin, for certain comments he made in the aftermath of the young officer’s gruesome murder that sought to link him to illegal small-scale mining.

“The DCE’s comments were just too unfortunate, and, so, we are glad that he’s been dealt with appropriately,” Captain Mahama (RTD) told GHOne TV’s Abena Owusu Nyamekye in an interview.

Mr. Appianin was asked to "step aside" by President Akufo-Addo after he had said that Captain Mahama was part of some military personnel who were protecting Chinese small-scale illegal miners (galamseyers) in a distant forest at Amenase prior to his death.

Mr Appianin told Accra-based Citi FM’s Bernard Avle on Tuesday morning that contrary to assertions by the spokesperson of the Ghana Armed Forces, Col Eric Aggrey-Quarshie, that Captain Mahama was part of a military detachment in the area to fight galamsey, he [Captain Mahama] was rather part of a group of military personnel who were protecting illegal miners.

Captain Maxwell’s uncle, Fred McBagonluri, had also told Citi FM that his nephew was on an anti-galamsey mission. “He told us that there were some galamsey activities happening in the area which is the epicenter of this criminal enterprise and that upon their arrival, they realised that the perpetrators of this trade have actually moved their equipment further into the forest and now it was really difficult for them to really get access to them. They can hear machines operating but far inside the forest. These were his last words to a friend of mine,” he stated.

According to the DCE, after a highway robbery incident in the area recently, the townsfolk became vigilant about criminals and their operations, thus, their suspicion of Captain Mahama as an armed robber after spotting a pistol on him as he jogged through the town on Monday dawn.

“… I had a call that they had arrested one of the armed robbers, armed and in the cause of exchanging gunshots with them, they’ve killed him. I called my police commander, he told me they’ve gone to the scene, they’ve taken the body and that he will brief me afterward. …In the evening, around 6 pm, 7 pm, then I had information that the supposed armed robber was not [an armed robber] but he was a military man – one of those military men who are protecting the small-scale miners in that forest, I’m talking about very far distance from where the forest is and where the incident took place. The incident took place at Denkyira Obuasi, a very far, long distance to Amenase where the forest is, where those military men are,” Mr Appianin said.

Before the Citi FM interview, Mr Appianin had told Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem on Monday that Captain Mahama “was the leader of the soldiers protecting the Chinese galamseyers, anyone can confirm it from the police hierarchy here, and the BNI as well…” contrary to GAF’s assertion that he was the Commander to a Special Military Detachment at Denkyira Obuasi in the Upper Denkyira West District.

Capt Mahama was lynched on suspicion that he was an armed robber after a group of residents from whom he asked for directions during a Monday dawn jogging session spotted the pistol on him.

The deceased army officer, who was not in any military attire at the time, was attacked by residents allegedly organised by the Assemblyman of the area.

The assemblyman, identified as William Baah, reported himself to the police later.

The decision by the President to ask Mr Appianin to step aside following Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s comment on Wednesday that the government will take the DCE’s comments seriously.

“I have taken the comments on the social media issue and the very comments apparently by the DCE.

We will take all those comments into account and I will report back to the President what the concerns of the family are on social media and all that and will look at how to attack those particular issues,” Dr Bawumia said on Wednesday, May 31.

Prior to Dr. Bawumia’s comment, editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide had clamored for Mr. Appianin’s immediate dismissal, describing him as a “disaster.”