Former President Jerry John Rawlings is at it again, spewing unsubstantiated and mostly weird allegations against persons he cannot tolerate.
While hosting some chiefs from the Volta Region, he re-presented his worn-out position that the murder of some women just before the inception of the Kufuor-administration was the handiwork of politicians, in a bid to give a tendentious slant to a serious issue-murder.
It is interesting to note that even though he claimed to know the names of some ministers in the erstwhile administration as being behind the crime, he has been unable to proffer this vital information to the security agencies even with his party in power.
He claimed that these politicians have changed their style by engaging in armed robbery to give the ruling party a bad name. Arrant nonsense lacking scientific basis whatsoever!
Ghanaians have come to consider the ex-President as a political hermit, a man whose ideas only he believes in. Not even the man he sponsored to come to power believes in his heart of hearts in the ideas of this man whose name is synonymous with eccentricity.
We find it absurd that the very serious subject of armed robbery which the police is doing all it can to contain would be reduced to gibberish partisan talk by an ex-President.
Mr. Rawlings’ ranting, which has become his stock-in-trade, should be set aside for a more serious discussion on the security scare facing the country since after all he does not have names of those behind the murders and armed robberies as he professes to.
We would rather he shuts up and let the police continue with their rather difficult work of containing the menace.
Suffice it to state that crime as being perpetrated by hoodlums is unlike the Jewish Passover, selective by its perpetrators.
Persons from all political persuasions are vulnerable and for someone to create the crazy impression that some persons have turned to the pastime to score cheap points is not only weird but cannot pass muster.
Armed robbers have become emboldened by the day even as the police descend on them with all the might at their disposal and within the ambits of the law so to speak, leaving members of the public terrified.
They have no limits and strike at whoever they choose, the political persuasions, religion and sex of their victims notwithstanding.
We consider it absurd therefore that someone would ascribe politics in the operations of armed robbers and think that other Ghanaians, save the hermit, would agree with us on this score.
We salute the police for their fantastic performance in their bid to subdue the armed robbery menace even as the crime witnesses a rise.
No one would dispute the fact that policemen have been empowered by law to arrest armed robbers and to defend themselves through their firearms.
There have been instances where cops have had to resort to their firearms when under a barrage of bullets from armed robbers.
Much as we do appreciate the very harsh conditions under which the police operate and given the sophistication of the armed robbers, we would want to appeal that some circumspection be applied when engaging them.
It is a difficult suggestion, given the rather wicked and murderous frame of mind of these robbers when they set out to dispossess people of their property.
As professionals with the necessary wherewithal to manage such situations, we trust that killing would be considered the last resort- that is when and only when they begin drawing sustained fire from robbers.
The overzealousness of some cops cannot be ruled out; this is why we ask that the rules of engagement be given another look while not compromising the need to stem the tide of armed robbery in the country.
Indeed the “take-no-prisoner” concept should as much as possible be the last resort and if at all applied sparingly.
The foregone should be our worry and not the ranting of a frustrated politician who has known no peace, forever at war with himself and by extension, the society at large including members of his political grouping.
Credit: Daily Guide
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