Editor of the Ghanaian Publisher Newspaper, Yaw Obeng Manu says the country’s religious leaders must band together to heighten and bring back lost moral and cultural values in the youth.
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He argues recent ritual killings are on the rise because of the system of moral decay which is uncharacteristic of the Ghanaian culture and society.
Ritual killings have seen a sharp rise in Ghana with youth as young as 15 years killing friends for blood money. In the last few months, two boys, 15-year-old Felix Nyarko and 18-year-old Nicholas Kwame Kani killed 11-year-old Ishmael Mensah Abdullah on April 2, 2021, at Lamptey Mills, a suburb of Kasoa, for ritual purposes. With the trial of their case ongoing, the country has been hit with yet another shock in Abesim, a suburb of Sunyani in the Bono Region.
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On Friday, August 20, 2021, Police in the Bono Region discovered body parts and a dead body in the home of a sports commentator in the Sunyani Municipality called Richard Appiah, who is suspected of trading human parts.
Yaw Obeng Manu addressing these incidents which he believes may become overwhelming if not checked stated, “We need to check our Christianity and upbringing because something is changing in our country now. Richard must definitely have a religious background and I can’t understand why he did that. With all these happening, I think it is time our religious leaders get involved and bring back the fear and regard for human life.”
To him, incidents like ritual killings by the youth for wealth are uncharacteristic “of us as a people. Richard is a 28-year-old man who was courageous to kill his fellow humans and this shows a moral decay in our country. It is sad and we need to bring back morality,” he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.
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According to Yaw Obeng Manu, the police must be swift with investigations and do well to bring all involved in this syndicate to book as he believes Richard may have not acted alone.
“For me, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters with support from the Bono Regional Police must take over the investigation. We need to establish why these things are happening and prescribe a national solution to it. We need to arrest these suspects and make sure they are dealt with.”
Background
The Police in Sunyani on Friday, August 20, arrested a man for allegedly killing two children.
Mr Appiah, 28, was arrested after the father of one of his victims, Louis Agyemang Junior reported him to the Police.
According to the Police, the victim’s father, 56-year-old Thomas Adjei, reported that the suspect, who is also his stepson, had come for Louis around 5:30 pm on Friday, August 20.
However, at about 10:00 pm, Mr Adjei said his younger son had still not returned home.
Accompanied by his four brothers, the complainant arrested the suspect, who he believed knew the whereabouts of the 12-year-old boy and brought him to the station for questioning.
The Police, together with the complainant and suspect then proceeded to the house where the suspect resides in the Alaska area near Abesim.
The statement revealed that the team found the deceased lying in a supine position in a room, while another murdered person was found in a different room.
During a further search of the house, pieces of flesh suspected to be parts of a different person were found in a double door fridge.
