What happened to Captain Maxwell Mahama has given me flashbacks of what happened five years ago. I missed an encounter with my greatest fear only by a hair’s breadth.

That Thursday evening in 2012, I was almost lynched for being a thief- a phone thief at the main Kasoa lorry station.

So many questions raced through my mind that evening while I sat in the bus I boarded from the Kasoa station, brooding over what would have made the headlines to my family that fateful night.

It was around 8:00pm, and the neighborhood lights were out. I waited edgily for a bus after leaving my aunt’s residence. I heard a driver’s mate shout “Awoshie, Ablekuma! Awoshie, Ablekuma!!” Immediately, I headed in the direction and approached him to lead me to the bus.

In fact, I can’t recall how she suddenly appeared behind me; but just a few steps into the bus, I felt a tap behind me and there she stood- my little angel of death.

She looked six or seven, virtually in tatters, looking very dirty with a sniveling face, wiping off herself as if she had survived a stampede.
“Sister! Give me the phone you just took from me when I fell down running” she demanded in Akan.

For a moment, I thought she got the wrong person and so I ignored; as if I knew all about the plan to get me a beating that night.
I paused for a moment, turned and yelled at her to dismiss her claim. “Phone? Get lost before I spank you! Don’t ever think you can use one of those tricks on me, thief!” I scolded her in the common language and sat in the bus.

Before any of the passengers could apprehend what was really happening, this little girl had already jumped in the half-full bus with teary eyes demanding I give her the phone. I entered the bus with my bag containing a laptop, my Samsung Ch@t GT E2222, and some cash as well. And I was decently dressed.

The puzzled passengers looked on as they took a quick glance at the brat and decided to cross-examine me. Standing right in front of me, this petite fraudster claimed the supposed phone was given to her by her mother minutes before I picked it up from the ground where she fell.

“Sister, if you have taken the girl’s phone, just give it to her so she can go back home to her mother. The bus is almost full.” One woman advised.
I was left in a state of shock and confusion; fully aware what this could generate into if not handled properly. I would have suffered a heavy blow on my face before given any chance to speak – considering how my accuser grew more persistent. So I remained calm and explained the situation to the other passengers.

“I have no idea what she is talking about. This little girl is telling lies. Please do not believe her” I pleaded, while trying to maintain my composure so I don’t raise any more suspicions.

Like they say “no thief admits ever stealing.” I persisted and finally got the passengers on my side.
Apparently, that imaginary mother of hers are the fraudsters lurking somewhere in the station waiting to hear any accusing tantrums of a phone theft so they could descend on whoever is being accused. The plan is to train, send and take over when their little trainee succeeds.

I was bowled over, left in a state of disbelieve as the passengers kept questioning the girl about the type of phone and the number of the said phone in order to verify the authenticity of her accusation. Within minutes, she ran out of words and swiftly dashed out of the bus threatening to go and call her mother.

When I fully regained consciousness from all that was happening around me, I searched my bag to ensure nothing of that sort had been slipped into it or taken out by any magical means. Everything was still intact except my sanity.

I showed commuters my phone, and explained that this was clearly a scheme of engaging little children in the act of robbery. Only some bunch of geniuses and heartless people would be able to come out with such a clever scheme. Anyone would have believed such skilled lass especially around that time.

Several minutes after the charade, the bus eventually got full; yet there was no sign of this baby thief and her supposed mother. No one even saw where she went in the dark; and it became patent that she was on a mission.

“Their medicine didn’t work today; you are very lucky sister!” yelled a nosy bread seller as the bus moved out of the station.
Now imagine the number of innocent lives that are being chased out of this world each day?

First, he was an armed robber, then a galamseyer; finally we learn he is a prominent soldier, a captain, a father and a husband. So why lynch and burn him after making him suffer such painful death. Why?

Is the so-called mob justice the best solution to deal with culprits?
Would I have also been disgraced, molested and lynched just because I had allegedly stolen a phone? What would have been my punishment if I wasn’t bold enough to rebuke this supposed six-year old trained liar?

Only God knows whether I may live to share this story or I would have been dictating from a wheel chair after five years. Let’s just say I wasn’t destined to depart this way- in the hands of a provoked mob.
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By: Farida Shaibu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

email: [email protected]

Blog: makewegist.com

The post Mob Justice: How I was nearly lynched for allegedly stealing a phone appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

I don’t mean to remind anyone of pain; but have we not forgotten already that on a certain June 3rd, we lost close to 200 lives. Human beings were packed like fish from harvest at the back of cars; but oh, even the fish is of great use.

Of what use is a dead man? We cried and did our worst in the name of mourning, but don’t we still choke the drains with rubbish? What kind of human beings are we turning into?

It is really funny how we cry and make so much noise, only when such atrocities are fresh and it ends there; till when?

So level-headed human beings actually watched and took pictures and videos of even the naked corpse, and shared them on social media, but could not get the police to save him? What is wrong with us?

This is the level of lawlessness professor Yaw Frimpong (Dean of the Faculty of Law –UPSA) spoke about in his piece “THE PROBLEM IS NOT GALAMSEY BUT LAWLESSNESS. We have thrown manners and values to the dogs.

I remember vividly in a hostel in Adabraka in Accra where I once lodged as a student; a young man almost lynched budged into our room of three ladies at about 8:00pm.

Apparently I was naked; but staring at his figure, and seeing him almost dead; I was that shocked that I forgot I just came from the bathroom and had undressed.
It took my roommate who was equally terrified to tell me I was naked; I mean it was that bad.

In a matter of seconds, the ‘self-righteous’ ones trooped in with their cutlasses, hot iron, logs and all manner of metals, searching for the ‘devil’ to kill. His crime? He was caught stealing a phone. I locked this man inside our room alone and started calling the police. All these while our compound was packed with men and boys alike numbering more than fifty. It was a heavy search.

I called the police for over an hour and they never answered. It took my roommate’s father in Tamale to reach to one police division in Accra before they called that they were coming; and it was almost another hour before they arrived. Then the hostel warden had threatened me to hand over our room key or be named as accomplice to a crime. But I also warned her that if the man is killed, I will make sure the hostel is sued for murder.

However, the Youngman was fortunate that his church members came to his rescue before even the police came. Well; he later confessed he committed the crime; but must he be killed there and then? And then what? We are not in the jungle; we have laws.

So those who mete out the instant justice are saints I guess. Oh; before somebody thinks I never faced a robber before, that’s why I am condemning these acts, let me state categorically that I have on three occasions, twice at a knife point, and my phone taken, so I know how it feels to want to take the law into your own hands.

The least said about the police, the better; that is the level of lawlessness the professor talked about. Nothing about the police encourages crime reporting; I have experienced it several times, they delay and frustrate you until you do not want to waste your time anymore.

The painful bit is the trauma that brought you to their outfit only to be humiliated the more; these are reasons people would want to do things their way and keep shedding innocent blood.

Talk of blood, I am aware of what it signifies in almost all the religions, the reason a blood is always shed for sacrifice be it human blood or animal blood. So if we keep shedding innocent blood, we must know that they speak. Yes they do; and whatever they speak will affect the very people who shed it down to those who do not even have a link in anyway.

If we think the solution is raining curses and insulting those who commit the atrocity, we may want to reconsider our strategy; the law MUST work.
What this country is turning into is not a joke anymore. For a lynching process to start and end without police intervention is enough proof that some people are not doing their work.

I am very much sure that somebody among the killers tried calling the police to no avail. The countries that are buried in war and ruins didn’t just wake up to it. It started from someone’s negligence; I pray this write-up gets to the presidency.

His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, if you are hearing the cries of like-minded Ghanaians like me, kindly save this country from this canker.
Please, whatever you do people will criticize; but you still have to take some radical actions.

I know the 1992 constitution empowers you enough, so please call the police to order. They are the root cause of this canker, God bless, strengthen and keep you as you lead His people.

May the soul of the departed rest in perfect peace; every death is painful; but more painful to watch your very kind take your very life.

I want to express my deepest condolence to the bereaved family and for the rest of us, let us pray for our very lives and generations yet unborn for every shed blood speaks.
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By: Princella Selasi Yawa Amevor/Office of the HOD, Public Relations, University of Professional Studies, Accra. Email: [email protected]

The post In memory of Capt. Maxwell Mahama; Another bloodshed by the ‘righteous’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.