Arrest These Devious Guys

A few days ago the police were compelled to issue a statement to warn the public against instant justice. The statement suggests that there is a rising incidence of the trend in the country.

A very nasty video about a lady alleged to have stolen something and being subjected to beatings has gone virile. It is a brutish example about the state of instant justice in the country today.

Had the beatings been the only punishment we might have not commented on the subject. She was stripped naked and some of her aggressors put their toes in her private part. How crude and primitive!

Have we become so morally bankrupt that we find nothing wrong with this despicable action by persons who are supposed to have been brought up in homes by responsible parents?

Not only is their action mentally stressing, it is un-Ghanaian to subject women to this kind of treatment. We can state without doubt that those involved in the shameful act would be visited by the wrath of the Almighty God sooner than later.

We have learnt that she was accused of stealing something paltry – an allegation which might even not be true.

Where have our religious values as Christians and Muslims gone to? With more and more Ghanaians becoming religious, it is incomprehensible that such actions can still be perpetrated with such level of recklessness.

It did not occur to the aggressors that the best place to send the suspect was to the police.

Those who are involved in such shameful conduct do not get pursued by the police because after all, there are no complainants. People do not find it convenient reporting such cases because perhaps they are supportive of the actions.

We are afraid that the video has already gone outside Ghana, courtesy social media. The negative fallouts are enormous and not enviable. While some persons outside Ghana would think upon viewing it that most of us do not consider the nasty development criminal enough, others would wonder whether we have values worthy of deference.

Be it as it may, clerics in both Christianity and Islam as well as traditional authorities must come out strongly to condemn the reprehensible action. The traditional authorities especially, have a special role in this direction because not only is the act  criminal, it is a taboo in most societies.

We implore the traditional authorities where the nonsense took place to join hands with the police in apprehending the beasts in human clothing who perpetrated the act. This done, they must be charged and arraigned before the court of law.

Unless we start dealing with issues this way, we would not address the moral decadence that is threatening our values.

It can only be imagined the mental agony the lady would suffer for the rest of her life, especially if she did not commit the crime for which she was treated the way she was.

We also find it surprising that people just watched the beastly action going on without intervening forcefully or even calling in the police. They rather relished the spectacle and videoed it for dissemination. This is ample suggestion that they supported what the deviants did.