A Pastor recently attacked and robbed in Kanda Estate: Is security porous in the environs of the Jubilee House?

Quite recently in November 2023 thereabout, a family at Kanda Estate was physically attacked and robbed at dawn at about 4:30am and their house almost demolished. In fact, there was a significant damage to the walls of the house number 122.E43/9, 3^rd Mole Street, Kanda Estate. I later gleaned that the occupants of the said almost demolished house are called the Marconi Family and Mr. Marconi is a pastor so he operates his church, Charisma House Chapel International at the foyer of the house. Even the house of God was not spared the vandalism?

The Marconi Attack and Bystander Apathy

The Marconi Family was allegedly attacked, imprisoned and robbed in their house one dawn in November 2023. They were indoor and asleep when excavators invaded their premises, their attackers forced the main entrance door open and specifically enquired as to who Mr. Marconi was. With few answers from the occupants of that house, the attackers locked up their victims in a room prior to physically attacking and robbing them.

These unknown attackers locked-up their victims in a room while they looted their victims’ personal belongings. They allegedly seized laptops, mobile phones and other home appliances from their victims. Per the allegation, the attackers equally stole huge sums of money (Cedis and Dollars) from their victims.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Marconi Family’s neighbours in the Kanda Estate could hear the attacking noises, they did nothing to help these poor victims. One may say that this failure to help neighbours under physical attack is a mimicry of what happened to Kitty Genovese in the US in March 1964. She was a 28-year-old lady at the time. She lived in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. Kitty was returning from work at about 2:30am when Winston Moseley, a 29-year-old Manhattan native raped and stabbed her to death. However, Kitty’s neighbours stood aloof and did not intervene to save her life. This phenomenon became known in Social Psychology as bystander effect or "Genovese syndrome".

After the murder of Kitty Genovese, many were trying to explain why the bystanders or her neighbours did not intervene to call the police sooner or help Genovese. Media outlets and community members alike suspected the witnesses were apathetic and indifferent to the situation.

Could this be the fate of the Marconi Family of Kanda Estate when they were recently attacked at dawn in their home? Their Kanda neighbours did not come to the rescue of the Marconi victims. They heard the attacking noises but did not intervene. What if Pastor Marconi and his family members were killed? Could this have also happened to any of the Kanda Estate dwellers? Would the police and the military have intervened more swiftly if this attack was on a government official or a security staff?

Is security porous in the immediate environs of the seat of government?

Ghana’s seat of Government is located very close to the Kanda Estate hence the home of the attacked Marconi Family is not far from the seat of government. There has been a contending name for the seat of Government. It was called Flagstaff House when the NDC was in power and currently, it is referred to as the Jubilee House by the sitting NPP Administration. Regardless of its name, it is Ghana’s seat of government or presidential palace and a national asset.

We are aware that the Jubilee House as it is currently called is a topnotch security zone and it is expected that its tight security will cascade into its immediate environs through police and military patrons that can chance on and prevent certain illegalities like the invasion and destruction of the home of the Marconi Family within the Kanda Estate.

In Economics, this type of thing is referred to positive externality. Positive externality is a benefit (e.g. tight security) received or transferred to a party as an indirect effect of the transactions of another party. Positive externalities arise when one party, such as a business, makes another party, such as nearby homes, better off but the business entity does not receive any compensation for doing so.

For example, a positive externality for the dwellers of Kanda Estate including but not limited to the attacked Marconi Family would be that the estate dwellers would have better security because they live close to the seat of government.

Unfortunately, this was not the fate of the Marconi Family when they were suddenly attacked that dawn, confined in a room and their home vandalized apart from money and other valuables stolen from them.

I do not seek to suggest that the presidential security apparatus should provide direct security for the occupants of the Kanda Estate and for that matter the poor Marconi Family. I am only saying that they could have benefited from security patrons within the immediate environs of the Jubilee House which must be protected from both inside and outside.

After all, it was even within the same Flagstaff House that Police Constable Nicholas Kwame Ametewee shot at President Nkrumah in the afternoon (1:15pm) of January 2, 1964 and parenthetically killed Superintendent Salifu Dargarti who was Nkrumah’s body guard at the time. This incident preceded that of Kitty Genovese for about three months as both occurred in 1964.

Where is the Marconi Family now?
It is obvious that the Marconi Family has been rendered homeless after the attack on them in their house within the Kanda Estate. I heard that after they lived in the almost demolished house for few weeks they are now compelled to make do with a friend’s garage.

From an empathetic point of view, one may guess rightly that the Marconi Family is traumatized and needs help. The Police need to intervene to prosecute their attackers. I hope that they themselves had reported the incident to the Police and it is being investigated.

Perhaps Government must equally strengthen security in the immediate environs of the Jubilee House which is a very important national asset. If Ametwee could attack Nkrumah from within the seat of Government, then an attack from outside could also be possible.

Conclusion
Whatever the outcome of any police investigation of this incident may be, I wish the Marconi Family well, that is if they come across this article. I hope that the Lord God they serve will soon provide for them in a better way.

I equally hope that the Police will carry out a thorough and an impaired investigation of the incident especially mindful of the fact that it occurred in the immediate environs of the Jubilee House, our seat of government. The perpetrators should be made to face the full rigors of the country’s penal system. It is trite knowledge that abuse of human right of any form is not only prohibited under the 1992 Constitution but also punishable based on available evidence. ~Asante Sana~

Philip Afeti Korto
Hospital Administrator
[email protected]