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The public anger in Ghana over the recent case of lynching is because the victim was a military officer and people would have been mute if the affected person was an ordinary Ghanaian, the BBC’s Freetown reporter Umaru Fofana has said.

Mr Fofana was reacting to Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama’s death on Monday May 29. The military officer was lynched by irate youth of Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region on suspicion that he was an armed robber after a group of people he asked for direction from spotted a gun on him.

The incident has drawn condemnation from President Nana Akufo-Addo, former presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Mahama, the clergy, civil society and other groups.

However, Mr Fofana held the view: “If the military officer had been a normal Ghanaian, the outrage would not have been as it is.” “Would the state have condemned it and all these investigations?” he asked during an interview with Dr Etse Sikanku on Class FM’s World Affairs broadcast on Friday, June 2.

Mr Fofana said mob justice should be condemned at the highest level no matter who is involved and law enforcement agencies must work to bring the perpetrators to book.

“Law must be allowed to work in cases of mob justice. More often than not the society does not show outrage, it could have been a case of mistaken identity. Someone just shouts ‘thief!’ and people pounce on individuals,” he observed.

Having worked in Sierra Leone for many years, he indicated that mob action was widespread and a problem not limited to Ghana.

However, he applauded the country for taking a bold step to tackle the issue and admonished leaders to ensure the case is successfully prosecuted.

“Ghana must handle it well and let people know that action is not being taken because he [victim] is a military officer but it is a wrong action on the part of the people who carried the act,” he added.