Persons
guilty in the Bawku violence must be executed - Dr.
Annin
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot
Security analyst, Dr Kwesi Annin says all persons found guilty of involvement in
the protracted Bawku violence must be executed.
According to him this action - one he describes as a possible solution to the
violence – is necessary because of the protracted nature of violence in the
country and the impunity perpetrator’s exhibit in defiance of the law
enforcement agencies.
Dr. Kwesi Annin who is also the Head of Research at the Kofi Annan International
Peace Keeping Training Centre in Accra was speaking on Citi FM.
The gunshot battle started on Sunday March 1 between the Kusasi and Mamprusi
ethnic groups where 27 people have been arrested and two persons are believed to
have lost their lives.
Dr. Annin bemoaned the nation’s reluctance to implement the capital punishment
regime in the light of increasing violence and proliferation of arms in Ghana
saying that “if we have capital punishment under the code… then we need to
target those committing these crimes and atrocities”.
He noted however that the law should not be applied randomly but must target
those “who have incentives for murdering each other and destroying property”.
“We can’t prevent conflicts if at a stage we also encourage conflicts and we
don’t deal with it. For way too long Ghana’s ability to deal with conflicts
decisively has been laughable”.
He pointed out that it was needless for Ghana to refuse to impose the capital
punishment with the excuse that it had ratified numerous international treaties
against it.
He noted that the reality is that there is a constant threat to the daily life
of Ghanaians because “there are bad people who are now beginning to overrun the
good in this country by not upholding the sanctity of human life, I think it is
legitimate that we go back to using the death penalty as a deterrent to ensure
that this nonsense totally stops”.
According to the security expert the law should apply to all drug lords and
those who profit from dealing in drugs. He said this should also apply to those
who possess class A and class B licenses to import weapons and yet deliberately
import the wrong type of weapons for sale to the perpetrators of violence in the
country and those who have economic and political incentives for organizing such
criminal acts.
Ghanadot
