By Jerry John Gyasi Mensah (JJ)
“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”- General Douglas MacArthur
There has been a worrying trend in Ghana where the military are deployed to communities and they have been attacked or maltreated by some unscrupulous persons, sometimes with the aid of residents of those communities. These attacks apart from leading to the loss of lives of some of our gallant soldiers also have dire consequences on our national security.
A clear example is the unfortunate and despicable incident that occurred on May 29, 2017 when Captain Adams Mahama (Now Major) was allegedly killed by a mob at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region. The killing shocked the country and shook our conscience, leading to numerous calls on the need to stem out mob action. A grieving nation gave Major Mahama a state funeral and erected a statue in his honour.
It looks like the Major Mahama incident just scratched our conscience and had little effect. Recently, the people of Dome Faase in the Greater Accra Region allegedly attacked two soldiers. Pictures of the soldiers bleeding hit national newspapers, bringing us memories of what might have happened to Major Mahama. Fortunately, in this case, the soldiers did not die.
Brute force
In most of these unfortunate incidents, soldiers in solidarity with their murdered or wounded colleagues descend on these ‘erring’ towns to show them where the power lies.
There were stories of men fleeing Denkyira Obuasi and Faase fearing military reprisals. And when the military did go to those towns, they were alleged to have really disciplined the townfolks.
In as much as I condemn the barbaric act of mob actions, which is a violation of the rules of natural justice, the alleged illegitimate means of punishing the perpetrators by our men in uniform is also equally unacceptable as it also flies in the face of rules of natural justice. You cannot condemn a man without giving him a hearing.
Both acts are criminal and must not be encouraged in anyway.
Fortunately, the military withdrew from Dome Faase, while the alleged killers of Major Mahama are also before court to answer the allegations leveled against them.
Rule of law
No matter the alleged crime, the military has no perceptible locus to invade such communities and begin to brutalise the people. Whenever there is any crime, regardless of who the victim is, the laws of the land on how to bring the alleged perpetrators book do not change. The military as an institution of the state must respect and obey this. That is rule of law, a cardinal principle of our democratic dispensation.
It is for no reason that Adjabeng JSC stated in his opinion in the case of Amidu v President Kuffour that “ It must be noted that our 1992 Constitution has firmly established the rule of law in the country. The Constitution makes it clear that everybody in this country, including His Excellency, the President, is under the Constitution and the law. This is clearly what we mean by the rule of law. I have no doubt that adherence to this tenet will indeed bring about real democracy, and therefore real freedom, justice and prosperity.”
Military and crime
It is quite clear that our armed forces play minimal role in our criminal law system (arrest, investigations, and prosecution).Article 201(3) of the 1992 Constitution which details the role of the armed forces states, “the Armed Forces shall be equipped and maintained to perform their role of defence of Ghana as well as such other functions for the development of Ghana as the President may determine“
The armed forces are, therefore, not part of the criminal justice system per law especially when it involves civilians. So I don’t see why it has become a normal practice for our men in uniform to be deployed to areas when one of their own is attacked. Per Section 10 of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), the police are the ones who have been mandated by statute to arrest, investigate and where appropriately prosecute all criminal related cause and matters
It is trite knowledge that the military has been ousted by law in criminal matters. They can complement the police when the situation demands, but their primary duty is not law enforcement. Therefore the culture of deploying them to torment and molest people in the name of seeking justice for their colleagues must be stopped as it also amount to a different form mob justice. Like the security analyst Adams Bona indicated, these kind of actions amount to reducing the revered institution to public ridicule.
Whenever there is a crime no matter who is involved the right criminal procedure should be triggered so justice will be served.
Pull quote
“Therefore the culture of deploying them to torment and molest people in the name of seeking justice for their colleagues must be stopped as it also amount to a different form mob justice.”
[caption id="attachment_565701" align="alignnone" width="810"] Jerry John Gyasi Mensah[/caption]
jjgyasimenz@gmail.com
The writer is a law student and youth activist
posted first on https://ghanaguardian.com/
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