Combating Increased Contract-Killings�

Ghana�s premier port-city, Tema, on Wednesday, June 25, 2014, recorded its second suspected contract-style killing in one year. An Architect with the Ministry of Education, Arnold Nii Ofori Tachie, was shot dead in his bedroom at Site 6, Community 1, Tema, in the early hours of last Wednesday, reportedly by three masked men. Only his tablet, a miniature computer with a sim card, probably containing information deemed injurious to the fortunes of the paymaster of the criminals, was taken away. Late last year, a 55-year-old man was similarly gunned down in his vehicle in Tema during daylight hours for no obvious reason. About a week before Ofori Tachie�s gruesome murder, some killers masquerading as policemen entered a compound in Bimbilla and killed one of the leaders in a chieftaincy dispute and disappeared. Ghanaians who have also been killed senselessly in recent times include a stool elder of Gomoa Fetteh; Fennec Okyere inside is high-brow Manet Garden residence, the Tema businessman mentioned above and three bankers � one at Akosombo (Zenith) and two in Accra, one each from Stanbic and Fidelity banks. So alarmed have Ghanaians become over the inexplicable killings that at a recent sitting of Parliament, the members unanimously demanded police bodyguards in view of reported attacks on at least two MPs. The legislators did not understand why members of the executive arm of the government were automatically given security while they were denied. They also urged the police to intensify their community policing activities and patrols, especially in areas where the perceived affluent in society reside. In one of our editorials about three months ago, The Chronicle had sought to adduce reasons for the spate of seeming contract-killings, which we said was quite incompatible with our Fama Nyame philosophy. In parts of Europe, where such killings are almost a way of life, it is usually for the settlement of inter-family feuds, in a misguided interpretation of Moses� injunction of �an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth�, and elimination of business competition or cheats. The Chronicle advised Ghanaian businessmen then to be scrupulous in their business dealings, in view of the discovery of oil and the influx of foreign businessmen, who may not have a culture of leaving everything to God Almighty to resolve in His own good time. We reiterate that advice on this occasion also. There are many businessmen in the country now, both from Europe and Africa, who most likely do not believe in allowing God to confirm his assurance that �Vengeance is mine�. They want their reward here on earth and will not brook an obstruction. We also support the call by MPs for greater community policing. We note that the police night patrols have commenced. But patrols are not static. Their presence and absence can easily be timed. We therefore recommend the setting up of community vigilante groups under the supervision of Community Police Officers who would hold forth after the patrol teams leave a particular location for another. Policing is creativity if nothing else!