Major Mahama’s Story Would Have Been Different If…

The final funeral rites for the late Major Maxwell Adam Mahama was held at the forecourt of State House in Accra last Saturday. Ghanaians from all walks of life thronged the venue to bid farewell to the gallant military officer. The tears streaming down the cheeks of the mourners, including even soldiers, tell a story about Ghanaian distaste for the cruel manner in which the young soldier was killed by the mob at Denkyira Boase.

The Chronicle congratulates Ghanaians for the love they demonstrated ever since the unfortunate demise of the late Major was made public. With the exception of a few people who were trying to play the cards of equalisation, the majority of Ghanaians condemned the despicable conduct of the mob that took the life of the innocent soldier.

Whilst thanking Ghanaians for supporting and mourning with the bereaved family, we are also drawing the attention of the Military High Command to review some of its internal rules and regulations. Various reports that have come out indicate that when the mob accosted the late military officer, he was holding side gun, and yet he did not fire to kill any of his attackers in self-defence. With the exception of one person, he reportedly shot in the leg, he never took the decision to take the life of any of his attackers.

If a civilian holding a gun had been attacked under the circumstances in which Major Mahama found himself, he or she would have shot to kill and invoke the self defence clause in the constitution to defend the action. But this military officer, even though knew about this, still did not commit the crime, and died such a painful death. Today, all Ghanaians are sympathising with him in death, but if he had used the gun kill the people and managed to escape, the story would have been different.

No Ghanaian, we repeat, no Ghanaian, would have praised the late Major for killing the people in self defence. Apart from the military keeping him in the guardroom for using his weapon on civilians, the public would have also be looking for his flesh to devour for 'callously' killing the people. In short, Maxwell would not have received any sympathy from Ghanaians. As a military officer, he might have thought about all these things, and, therefore, decided to succumb to death instead of being 'tortured' with a trial and unnecessary vitriolic attacks.

This is a painful situation one should not expect his bitterest enemy to even go through, and that is why we think the military should relax its rules and allow officers who find themselves in such situations to defend themselves. Of course, some of the personnel of the security agencies are trigger-happy, but in circumstances like what we are discussing, an investigation could be conducted to ascertain if the officer had misconducted himself. This is a painful death that should never occur again!