Ghana's army chief begs soldiers to remain calm over lynched captain

Ghana’s Chief of Defense Staff, Maj. Gen. Akwa, has begged aggrieved soldiers to remain calm in the wake of the gruesome killing of one of their colleagues, Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama.

The disgruntled soldiers aired their frustrations during a meeting with the military top brass at the army’s headquarters at Burma Camp in Accra.

Most of them said they were unhappy that the police was in charge of investigations into the lynching of a top soldier when the army also has the military police who could expedite action on the issue.

“We have military police. It is not in every instance that we allow the civilian police to be telling us about evidence. What more evidence do you want from this?” one officer asked.

“The Ghana Armed Forces has the military police. We can handle our things. It is not everything that you take to the civil police,” he stressed.

But the army chief in response to his men said, “I appeal to you to let us stand firm to prove to the whole world that we are truly a professional military force.”

He asked the officers to take consolation from assurances by the president (Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces) that all persons complicit in the death of Captain Mahama will be held accountable.

The Captain who had been detailed to lead a military team in the fight illegal mining in the country’s Central Region, was lynched by a mob who mistook him for an armed robber. His body was subsequently burnt by the mob.

The police who are in charge of the case have since reported the arrest of seven people as at Thursday June 1. A court has remanded the suspects in prison custody to appear at a later date. Ghanaians have been expressing outrage at the incident especially on social media.