Murder of Major Mahama is wake-up call - Bishop Boi-Nai

Yendi (NR) June 8, GNA - Most Reverend Vincent Sowah Boi-Nai, the Catholic Bishop of Yendi has stated that the gruesome lynching of Major Maxwell Adam Mahama was a wakeup call for the security agencies and the Law courts to enforce appropriate laws to deter others.

Bishop Boi-Nai wondered why people in 21st Century would take the Laws of the country into their own hands to perpetuate such barbaric acts.

The Yendi Catholic Bishop who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Yendi in the Northern Region re-echoed the words of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his response to the gruesome murder that 'No one involved in the murder will go free'

Bishop Boi - Nai said instant justice was becoming rampant and the earlier it was stopped, the better for the growth and development of the country.

He said:'The murder of Major Mahama reminds me of April 10, 2007 when some people were arrested for allegedly lynching one Mr Anthony Yeboah Boateng, the Administrator of the Goaso Government Hospital Attronie near Sunyani as he, his wife and one reverend Sister were conveying the corpse of Rev. sister's mother from Sunyani to Goaso.'

He said on February 16, 2010 the Oda Police arrested five men including; the chief of Suponsi in the Birim Central Municipality in the Eastern Region in connection with the lynching of, Saviour Agisi, a 21-year-old student and on April 28, 2013 a student of tertiary institution was lynched by a group of men for allegedly stealing a mobile phone which took place behind Dell Hospital at Mempasem in East Legon, a suburb of Accra.

He mentioned others such as; February 7, 2015, where Police men intervened to save the lives of two students from St. Paul's Boys Senior High School who were suspected to be gay from being lynched by their angry mates; and on April 6, 2016 a 25-year-old Head porter was lynched by some unknown persons for allegedly stealing a goat. He said the deceased identified only as Yaw was found dead on the compound of Adumadze Municipal Assembly (MA) Basic school with broken blocks, stones and other objects which were apparently were used in lynching him scattered around the body.

Bishop Boi-Nai noted that the wave of instant justice was an embarrassment to the country as that could scare potential investors especially those lobbying to support in the the One District, One Factory, And One Village, One Dam programmes.

He said from a Christian perspective, no one had the right to take the life of another person since it was God that gave and took life.

Bishop Boi - Nai appealed to the government to support chiefs to organise durbars to educate their people against such practices and urged the National Commission for Civic Education, National Peace Council, Civil Society Organisations and Religious Bodies to organize educational programmes to educate the youth to refrain from such shameful acts in their areas.

He condemned the heinous crime, and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and called for the enforcement of appropriate laws to bring perpetrators to book. GNA