Editorial (The Daily Searchlight, June 3, 2022)
Recently, a group of people, on the now admitted instructions of the Wa-Naa, detained a young man and woman and subjected them to whipping at the stake.
The medieval remedy was meted out because the pair had acted in a sex video, which had found its way online. Following the punishment and the public outcry, the Ghana Police Service in Wa managed to arrest a few of the suspects in the public whipping.
In reaction, some misguided elements tried to storm the police station to free the suspects, and a few of these misguided people who would storm a police station, were also arrested.
The incidents that took place in Wa, brings into sharp focus the National Security Strategy Document recently launched by the National Security Minister Kan Dapaah.
The National Security Strategy Document is a document that focuses on certain individuals and causative factors whose activity can lead to conflict and insecurity, and how preventive measures can be put in place to prevent insecurity.
Without doubt, the poor sense of judgment exhibited by the Wa Naa, is the direct cause of the troubles that happened in Wa.
While we do not defend the activity of the couple displaying sexual activity on the internet and would even go so far as to condemn such activity, we believe that the law in Ghana does not allow any chief to arrest and impose sanctions any citizen.
Worse, the sanction imposed, a public whipping of all things, is medieval, prehistoric, and barbaric.
We believe that this incident is a sign that Ghana and Ghanaians should look at the National Security Strategy Document with the deserved attention and ask ourselves how we can all contribute to our collective security as a nation.
To our Muslim brothers and sisters, we also believe it is about time that we drummed home the fact that Ghana is a democratic country, where neither Christian nor Sharia law is applicable.
