Nana Yaw’s gruesome murder: Failure of society
Last week was one of those regrettable weeks with disturbing headlines coming so closely on the heels of Good Friday when Christians were reliving the agonising crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.
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The headlines were on the gruesome murder of an eight-year old boy, Joseph Quao, also known as Nana Yaw. The body of the boy was found on the compound of Ebenezer Senior High School at Dansoman last week Tuesday. His head and legs were said to have been chopped off.
The boy was reported missing by his parents on Easter Sunday, the day Christians celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ironically, he is said to have loved going to church and, according to one of the FM radio stations, was regularly picked up for church on Sundays by a pastor.
Exhibiting such keen interest in church going at that tender age was perhaps preparing Nana Yaw for a higher call in future. That future was curtailed prematurely by someone with a sinister motive, watched on passively by a society that no longer cares for its own.
Nana Yaw and many other children who have suffered such grisly deaths could be said to be victims of a community that is failing its citizens. There are too many such barbaric murders being reported all the time in our media. Elsewhere, it is with the vigilance of communities and reports from members of the public that the police are able to bring their investigations to speedy conclusions.
The story in the public domain of the disappearance of young Nana Yaw whose decomposed dismembered body was found two days after he disappeared from home seems incomplete. My attempts to get someone at the Dansoman Police Station to throw more light on the case proved futile.
On my visit to the police station last Friday to get some clarity on the various version of the story being told by the media, I was told the District Commander had been called to a meeting at the Police Headquarters. The officer in charge of the case was also not available to talk to me because “he had just stepped outside”. Nobody else would speak to me.
The police are working hard to unravel every mystery surrounding little Nana Yaw’s murder. Nonetheless, the case is a revelation of some of the happenings in our communities and which we tend to take for granted because it is not happening under our roofs. There are many questions in this boy’s murder case which a watchful community could have provided answers to.
Was the eight-year old boy dropped off from church at the same time he normally gets dropped off? When did his parents notice his absence from home?
Did anybody in the community see Nana Yaw on the day he was reported to have disappeared? How far is home from the school where the dismembered decomposed body was found? Is the school a gated one and if it is, over a holiday weekend, how easy would it have been for unauthorised persons to gain access?
As the police are taking time to piece the bits together, this should be another wake up call for parents and members of our communities. Are parents neglecting their duties of close home supervision? Are we leaving the children out to play for too long trusting that the community is safe and friendly? Is someone’s business no longer everybody’s matter?
Cases of sodomy involving children are rampant in the media. Reports of young girls being raped or defiled are common. Announcements of missing children are on air all the time. Yet, some parents continue to ignore the realities and put their children at risk by letting them wander around late in the day as communities also look on.
If only the laws were a bit harsh and heavy sanctions are handed down to parents of neglected children, the case where adults in communities are taking advantage of children would lessen. Why? Because where a parent is fully aware of what could happen to him or her concerning the neglect of even their biological children, extra care would be shown and supervision at home kept even tighter.
As members of communities and as parents, we have glossed over too many things which are hurting the future of our children. Children below the age of 16, for example, are being sent by parents and other adults to buy alcohol and cigarettes for them and shopkeepers are readily selling to these children. Parents and their friends are drinking and smoking in the presence of children and they see nothing wrong with it.
Parents are swearing to each other and tearing each other apart in bitter quarrels right in front of their children to the extent that the children no longer feel happy in their own homes. They find refuge in hanging around in the neighbourhood and we all watch on without question.
Parents cannot continue to take their eyes off their young children and communities must begin to be one another’s keeper. The distressing story of young Nana Yaw and many other children who vanish from home are reminders of neglect of duty towards children.