See how Ghanaians all come out fine fine dey condemn the lynching of the army officer – you would think there isn’t a single bad nut in the country.
It’s like I keep saying, everyone you talk to admits corruption is bad and killing the country, yet we still have corruption seeping through every fibre of the country – if everyone thinks corruption is bad, why is there so much corruption? (you can extrapolate this to indiscipline, tardiness or any other negative attribute we exhibit in Ghana)
The truth is a lot of us support mob justice in certain instances, when it affects the ‘other’ we also hate. It can be an armed robber, a thief, or even a homosexual. God knows many Ghanaians wouldn’t bat an eye, indeed would probably encourage, lynching of a gay person. (Many have actively encouraged it in online interaction).
So is it that the lynching is ‘bad’ because the soldier was ‘innocent’? But you cannot always correctly ascertain the innocence or guilt of someone when you’re part of a bloodthirsty mob now, can you? Even the criminal justice system gets it wrong sometimes, not to talk of testosterone fuelled animals in a mob. Remember the saying, appearances can be deceptive?
There’s a reason humanity chose law and order over the chaos of ‘survival of the fittest’. Whilst giving a captured armed robber over to the police might seem they are getting off light, especially when it’s possible they might even not face any jail time with the incompetent police service we have – remember you’re doing that not because you have no capacity for revenge, but because you hope if we all follow the law, one day when you’re in the situation of Capt. Mahama, others might also decide to show you the same courtesy of handing you over. It might happen to any of us.
PS – the problem with Ghana is ignorance, simple. We have a high illiteracy rate, a disdain for too much ‘book knowledge’, and a dogmatic adherence to traditions, mores, and norms.
The problem with Ghana is people thinking their ignorance is just as valid as your knowledge, because that ignorance is rewarded by a society that basks in it.
This post first appeared on GhanaCelebrities.Com’s Managing Editor-Godwin Nii-Armah’s Facebook page.