Soldiers had wanted to wipe out Denkyira-Obuasi – Maj. Mahama’s family discloses

• Posted on June 7, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Some military personnel close to slain Major Maxwell Adam Mahama had wanted to rally soldiers to storm and kill residents of Denkyira-Obuasi, a spokesperson for the late soldier’s family has revealed.

It would have been bloody had it not been the intervention of the family, Zakaria Sakara Ahmed indicated on Sunrise morning show on 3FM92.7 Wednesday. Major Maxwell Mahama was gruesomely murdered by residents of Denkyira-Obuasi in the Upper Denkyira West district of the Central Region on May 29, 2017. The officer, according to the police, was accused of being an armed robber while jogging with his pistol on him. A mob led by the assemblyman there marshaled lethal weapons including guns, heavy sticks and blocks and lynched him. Many who have watched videos of the ignoble act are appalled by the way Major Mahama, then a captain, was murdered when he had clearly shown to the people that he posed no danger and was ready to negotiate with them, but the people will not budge. Major Maxwell Adam Mahama “Indeed on the first day, all the soldiers who came there said look, this village must be wipe out, and out of anger all of them, they don’t think that [residents of the] village deserve to live,” Zakaria Sakara told Sunrise host Winston Amoah.

However, he remarked, the family strenuously persuaded them to avoid any bloodshed. “So why should we, in pursuit of justice, go and kill innocent people there as well, the only way we can get that justice is to allow the law to take its course,” he said. “It is painful but in trying to soothe your pain you don’t inflict pain on others.” Read what the family head said about revenge.   According to Zakaria Sakara, he was shocked that such dastard act would be committed in the Central region, a place he had considered as “docile in terms of crime in this country”. “I am shock the people didn’t see sense in what Major Maxwell Mahama was telling them, take me to the police station I am a military officer.

What else do you expect somebody to do even with his weapon, it is unfortunate, but we believe that justice would be done.” Zakaria Sakara pointed out that the family is “bitter” against those who did the act but not the entire residents of Denkyira-Obuasi. He later told Onua FM’s Yen Nsempa that the family, though can forgive the killers, it cannot forget the act. The late Major Mahama was with the 5th Infantry of the Ghana Armed Forces and the detachment commander of troops on operational duties in the Upper Denkyira West District.

By Isaac Essel