Finally, the entire country can breathe a collective sigh of relief; the kidnapped young Canadian volunteers have been rescued.
The two young women were reportedly forced into a waiting car and driven to unknown location in Kumasi by their kidnappers who are said to have made a ransom demand for 500, 000 dollars from the parents of the apparently frightened and scared girls.
Much of the credit for the rescue should go to our security agencies for living up to huge public expectations and executing a mission that many thought was impossible.
Yes, indeed, Ghanaians hoped and prayed that the security agencies will do all in their power and to the best of their ability to smoke out the kidnappers from their hideout, save the girls and in the process salvage our national reputation.
Once again, our security agencies have abundantly demonstrated why they are so important to our safety and well-being and to the security of Ghana more broadly.
Regrettable as the kidnapping of the Canadian girls was, unfortunately, it has served to expose the increasing inability of government to put a screeching halt/stop to the high levels of violence and criminality we are seeing in the country.
It is a troubling trend that would ultimately exert serious implications for our security and international reputation if enough resources are not thrown at the problem.
The fact that the kidnappers were brazen enough to pull off their dastardly act in broad daylight has plenty to do with our climate of impunity.
Much as I hate to blame the violence on the current administration, there is a bitter and unpleasant truth that must be said loud and clear which is that this government has not been keen on punishing wrongdoers.
On several occasions in the last three years, individuals who had committed egregious offences were easily left off the hook. The law did not come down hard on them.
And the legal system, slow and cumbersome as always, hasn’t helped matters much. It has dragged its feet in prosecuting some high-profile cases, engaged in nepotism in some instances all of which discourages ordinary Ghanaians from placing trust and faith in the court system.
One serious consequence of the system’s failure to stamp its authority on crime is that from afar, hardened criminals watch this and tell themselves they could also get away with their nefarious crimes and no one will raise a finger against them.
Of course, our country is not coming apart at the seams by the violence; our civilization is not imploding. Rest assured that there are mechanisms in place to ward off threats to our safety and well-being.
Nonetheless, the violence is frightening and depressing. Ghanaians are growing weary of being accosted in their homes and streets by armed bandits and their valuables stolen and in extreme cases, their lives taken.
Suffice it to say that there is a heightened sense of lawlessness and insecurity in the country. It is thus incumbent on the current Nana Akuffo Addo’s administration to build a firewall around Ghanaians by resourcing our security agencies, to give them the wherewithal to keep violent criminals from terrorizing Ghanaians and foreign nationals.
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