{"id":329388,"date":"2017-06-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=329388"},"modified":"2017-06-19T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T06:00:00","slug":"obrempong-asks-was-upper-denkyira-west-dce-right-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/06\/obrempong-asks-was-upper-denkyira-west-dce-right-after-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Obrempong asks: Was Upper Denkyira West DCE right after all?"},"content":{"rendered":"
It was Tuesday 30th May 2017. Many Ghanaians had woken up to viral videos of the gruesome killing of a soldier. That soldier turned out to be Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama, now Major.<\/p>\n
The news, in no time, spread like wild fire on both social and traditional media.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”IaPiWtQFWCPm3UqIXfqzB381OqUhA3AZ”]People started demanding more information on the gruesome act and the videos that emerged heightened the anger among Ghanaians and the quest to ascertain what led to this wicked act. He has finally been given a befitting burial, but certainly, his wife, family, friends and well wishers need closure. This is likely to happen if the perpetrators are found guilty and jailed.<\/p>\n
I am writing this piece with a lot of hesitation, especially as the incident is still fresh in the minds of people, and so asking some critical questions would be interpreted as being insensitive. Indeed, I had these same questions when the story was unfolding, but I decided not to broach the subject because Major Mahama had not been buried. It might still not be the most appropriate time, but please permit me to revisit this matter.<\/p>\n
The two sides to Major Mahama\u2019s killing<\/strong><\/p>\n There are two sides to the whole story about Major Maxwell Mahama that we must take notice of:<\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> Knowing what really happened that Monday morning and the perpetrators behind his dastardly killing; and<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> What the military detachment was really doing in the Upper Denkyira West District.<\/p>\n The first point we believe, the Ghana Police Service have done some really good work with it. They have so far arrested about\u00a050 suspects, several\u00a0of them have been remanded in police custody. That is worth commending because it will teach some Ghanaians who think they are the best judges in situations of lawlessness some good lesson. That said, the second point is of greater importance in\u00a0this article.<\/p>\n What was the military detachment really doing in the district?<\/p>\n We were all grieving and asking questions pertaining to the killing of Major Mahama. The award winning Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> was also seeking answers. The host, Bernard Avle, first spoke to the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces Col. Aggrey Quarshie. Bernard asked Col Quarshie, what the army knew about the developing story at the time. He narrated the popular \u2018jogging story\u2019 and the visit by the Chief of Defense Staff to Denkyira-Obuasi, the accident scene. Bernard followed up with the critical question; what was the military detachment doing there?<\/p>\n Bernard Avle:<\/strong> What was the detachment doing in the town, Denkyira-Obuasi?<\/p>\n Col. Quarshie Aggrey:<\/strong> The detachment is deployed at Diaso on an internal security operation like we have personnel deployed across the country. Some are doing anti-galamsey duties, some are doing anti-lumbering duties, others too are making sure that chieftaincy disputes, and land disputes, all those things are going under control. So they were deployed there for anti-galamsey operation\u2026.The conversation continued\u2026<\/p>\n One thing readers must take note of is that, Col. Aggrey emphatically said the detachment was there on official duties. This is point one.<\/p>\n After Bernard Avle finished with that interview. He then spoke to the uncle of the deceased. His uncle also told Bernard that \u201che [Major Maxwell] was there on an anti-galamsey mission\u201d. So according to the family too, Major Mahama was doing anti-galamsey operations. The military\u2019s account corroborates the family\u2019s.<\/p>\n At this point, listeners of the program were convinced Major Mahama has been killed whilst on anti-galamsey operations.<\/p>\n Still following the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>, Bernard also interviewed the DCE for Upper Dekyira West, Daniel Appianing, in whose jurisdiction the killing of Major Mahama took place. Bernard asked the DCE:<\/p>\n Bernard:<\/strong> So as DCE, were you aware of the military presence in the district? Were you informed of what they were doing?<\/p>\n DCE: \u2026\u201cThe truth of the matter is that, in my district, there is no military detachment here to fight galamsey as I speak to you. We do not have any military barracks in the district as well. We share boundary with part of Western Region; that\u2019s the Wassa part. There is this large acre of a forest that for the past one and half to 2 years, some people entered the forest, started mining; that’s small scale mining, they have done it up till today as I am talking to you. When they started this mining, this small scale mining or illegal mining or galamsey or whatever you call it, they have been protected heavily by military personnel. Not one or two or three military personnel, heavy military personnel have been protecting these people for\u00a0this one or two years that I am talking about. Before I became DCE, I have been here just two weeks ago, but I have been in the district so I know what I am talking about. That forest which shares boundaries with Wassa is the Upper Wassa Forest. I have about two or three communities that share boundaries. They are affected by the activities of this. In other words, they are farmers. They farm around the forest. So we are affected directly. The forest is not necessarily in the district, part of it, or portions of it eats into our district here. That is what has been going on. A lot of security issues have popped up. At a point in time, there were demonstrations by some of the communities around because they didn\u2019t understand why Chinese should be in the forest mining\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n