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Leave justice delivery for police, judges
• President Akufo-Addo interacting with the mass cocoa

Leave justice delivery for police, judges

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has condemned the act of instant justice meted out to the late Major Adam Mahama at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region, a couple of months ago that led to his death.

He said it was only the police, judges and lawyers who were reserved with the authority to deal with people found guilty of any wrong doing

“In any democratic and civilised society it is these three institutions that deal with justice and it is not in the power of any citizen or a group to forcefully take someone else's life”.

"I feel very shy of what happened as it was so distressing. The incident created a bad name for the country which has worked hard over the years to build worthy democratic credentials. I am also disappointed that this happened during my tenure," the President said.

Addressing the chiefs and people of Denkyira Obuasi in the Upper Denkyira District on Monday, the President warned that, "But this should be the last time this thing will happen again as Ghana is respected across the world."

Change of name

Nana Akufo-Addo's condemnation of the lynching of the late Major Mahama was in response to a speech delivered by the acting President of the Denkyira Traditional Council, Nana Adjei Nkyiriyie III, who requested a name change for the town from Denkyira Obuasi to New Obuasi as a show of regret for the crime that was committed.

Dressed in black mourning clothes, the chief on behalf of the people, appealed passionately to the President to endeavour to ensure that all necessary arrangements were put in place to effect the change of name.

The President was accompanied on his visit to Denkyira Obuasi by the Central Regional Minister, Mr Kwamena Duncan, and other government functionaries as well as some executive members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The entourage is in the region on the first leg of a six-day “thank you tour” of both the Central and Western regions.

Nana Akufo-Addo said the law was out to get those involved in the dastardly act and was not after the entire town, adding that "I have come to console you and Ghana will not forget about you".

He assured the people of their share of all the government’s flagship programmes and projects including that on the free senior high school initiative, planting for food and jobs and the one district one factory programmes.

"You are a part of the country and will enjoy the new course of action for economic growth that the government has embarked on."

Welcome

In a welcome address, Nana Nkyiriyie, expressed the condolences of the traditional council to the bereaved family of Major Mahama, the Ghana Armed Forces and the entire nation, saying "let us leave what has happened behind and move forward as one people and ensure that such incident never happens again".

He said further that the council had asked the community to cooperate with the police and hand over all those involved in the brutal murder of the soldier.

Meanwhile, he said the council had made sacrifices to the gods and ancestors and offered prayers as well as fasted to signify their sorrow and regret for having done wrong.
Nana Nkyiriyie urged the government to consider improving the road network in the area, since it was noted for its cocoa production, and to also upgrade the Dunkwa Hospital which was in bad state.

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Galamsey

He said illegal mining (galamsey) was a ready source of income for the people in the area and called on the government to provide licence for small-scale mining business concerns operating in the area.

The Central Regional Minister appealed to Ghanaians to stop giving Denkyira Obuasi a bad name, since the town and its people were a part of the country.

The President and his entourage afterwards visited the scene of the murder of the late Major Mahama, where the last post was sounded in his memory

Early visits

Early on in the day, Nana Akufo-Addo had addressed similar durbars at Sefwi Wiawso and Wassa Akropong, where he gave assurance that the government would provide jobs for unemployed youth, make education free for all who qualified to enter senior high schools.

All the traditional aurhorities in their welcome addresses called on the government to assist the youth in their communities with jobs.

They further asked for good roads, health facilities and other social and economic infrastructure that were promised by the New Patriotic Party in the course of electioneering last year.

Re-launch

At Dansokrom which is near Sefwi Bekwai, the President performed a ceremony to re-launch the Cocoa Disease & Pests Control Programme (CODAPEST) initiated by the COCOBOD under its mass cocoa spraying programme on a cocoa demonstration farm.

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