Gunman Arrested On Sunday With A Gun In The President’s Church Jailed Ten Years On Tuesday: So We Can Carry Out Such Swift Justice In Ghana?

A gunman was arrested by National Security Operatives at the Ringway Assemblies of God Church last Sunday, July 26. Two days later, this gunman has already been sentenced to 10 years in jail.

If you’re rubbing your eyes in disbelief that such swift justice can be carried out in Ghana; it is because the church the gunman was arrested in is where the President often worships with his family.

Luckily, he was not in Church that Sunday, but Charles Antwi, the gunman, was arrested. He was in court today, where he apparently ‘confessed’ to planning to kill the President.

Acccording to Antwi, he was supposed to have been named President after the death of the late President John Atta Mills. He thus said he felt cheated by the President.

He also said he was fed up with the conditions in the country, and thus wanted to assassinate the President. He also said he had gone to the church on three occasions prior, but on all three the President was not around.

He was convicted on one count of possessing a firearm without licence by the Accra Circuit court, presided over by Justice Francis Obiri.

Now whilst anyone who tries to assassinate our President is worthy of whatever is coming to him, it is quite strange that this case has been settled so swiftly. Are we really that capable of carrying out such swift justice in Ghana?

Is this the same Ghana where people create, loot, and share our resources, and spend years in court before the case is struck out? Is this the same Ghana where people who defraud the state in judgment debts, and are either left to go scot free or are asked to refund the money? Is this the country where state prosecutors drag their feet in politically expedient cases until the case is thrown out?

Whilst such a ruling is welcoming, it brings the feeling that this guy was railroaded. We can go through the processes of putting people in jail for their crimes without making it seem like the culprit is being scapegoated.

Especially when our system is so predisposed towards not working in most cases. I hope due process was gone through, instead of the guy just being jailed because he was in the President’s church. That is not how a democracy is supposed to work.