Contract Killers In Our Midst?

- Just A Symptom Of A Bigger Disease

Ever since creation (evolution, intelligent design, the big bang, magical appearances, falling from the sky, or whatever theory you personally believe in about how life started) all species of animals including the most intelligent one-the human race, have always found reasons to end the life of one another. It is either done by individuals or collectively by 'civilized' societies. (Homo Sapiens are very good at creating weapons that kill very efficiently.) Sometimes killing is "accomplished" legally via the court system; they call it execution.

Other 'safe' legal ways to cut short innocent lives are through wars and invasions. In lawless societies, perceived thieves are sometimes killed by a mob through lynching. Whether killing is done legally or illegally the end result is always the same-the victims never, ever come back to life.

Most of the time, due to the complicated nature of killing, coupled with the severity of the punishment meted out to people who are caught trying to do it ( or people who have successfully done it), potential killers have often sought the help of experienced professionals. These professionals include rogue spiritualists, bad juju-men, negative voodoo practitioners and, of late contract killers. Let us not forget that contract killers did not discover the art of murder or (in theory) even necessarily condone it; contract killers have a job because shameless cowards with chicken hearts (who are not men or women enough to commit their own murders) contract them to do it for them. Contract killers, together with other kinds of killers will be out of business if we as a people decide to act as the Christians we say we are and stop killing ourselves.

So far the local press is trying hard to divert attention from the real issue at hand but ordinary Ghanaians have no reason to live in fear. In fact your chance of being killed by a contract killer is the same as being hit by lightning two times in a day while listening to rock music. The one you truly need to fear is your so-called close friend (who is secretly your enemy) or your sworn enemy who is so filled with envy and jealousy that he or she is ready to put money on your head. Well, for your information, no government can protect its citizens against the jealousy and envy of their friends and relatives. You are no more at risk of being killed by your enemy now than before the first contract killer came to settle in your neighborhood. The only group of people who have to worry are rogue spiritual killers who are forced to share the "killing" market with the new entrants-contract killers. These rogue spiritual killers can get their monopoly back by getting rid of their new competition-contract killers.

I have a strong conviction that heartless people with the potential for contract killing have always existed in our society; there are many reasons why they have been dormant all these years. Even (just for the sake of argument) if these so-called contract killers are not Ghanaians (somehow we delude ourselves into thinking that we do not have the killer instinct in our culture) why are they here now? It is both naive and ridiculous for us to think that contract killers woke up one morning and decided to come to Ghana to introduce which hitherto did not exist. Well, not even the twisted brain of a contract killer thinks this way. No! Nobody teaches a society how to murder- they degenerate into it.

Anyone with the knowledge of economics 101, knows that the emergence of the so-called contract killing in our beloved country is merely a simple fundamental economic phenomenon based on two age old economic principles; the theory of demand and supply is one and the other is based on the factors for the location of industries. People in specific lines of work gravitate towards places where they can be hired and paid well.

This is the only reason why a butcher will be unemployed in a culture where only vegetarians reside.

Whenever these people decide to eat meat butchers will emerge. This is the exact order; people start eating meat and then butchers come in so how can one blame the butcher for making people change their eating habits. In the same light, first people decide to kill and then the means of killing follow. Simple! The existence of the contract killer only provides one more alternative for the potential killer who would have contemplated murder with or without the existence of contract killers. The same close friend or relative (strangers do not normally kill strangers because murder is hardly a random act; most victims know their killers but unfortunately they are too dead to talk) who would have tried to poison you, shoot you (if they knew how to use a gun) or sold your soul to a bad spiritualist is the same person who will hire a contract killer to get rid of you.

From the above argument, it is becoming crystal-clear that contract killing is not the cause of but the result of people's insatiable appetite to kill other people. Contract killers, if they are really here, are only here to sell their services because the Ghanaian has sunk to a an unprecedented new low in his gross disregard and respect for life. I can assure you of one thing; the contract killer will leave if he has no job. We have the power to make the contract killer sell his gun, become a hunter or sell tomatoes in the market if we refuse to kill.

What we as a nation should be addressing here is the erosion of our core values due to the unguarded exposure of our culture to foreign influences. We need to respect and guard our culture jealously because without it we will lose our humanity.

The police cannot really help us because our intent is always well hidden in the depths of our brains.

. The law enforcement agencies cannot replace our parents.

Day in and day out we keep on blindly imitating the western way of life. If we continue to go down this path we are bound to breed other contractors in addition to contract killers for, after all, not all will like to kill. Out of this rot will eventually emerge contract general beaters, contract rapists, contract slappers, contract marriages (to rich peoples' daughters or sons in order to get close to the wealth legally by way of inheritance) and the worse of all, contract insulters. Contract insulters will be mostly unemployed teenage girls (or students) who will work in groups. All they will ever need will be a few cedis after which they will tongue-lash their victims to tears.