Armed Robbers

When I arrived in Ghana in July of 2006, there was frequent coverage in the news of armed robberies occurring on the nation’s highways. In most cases tro tros traveling long distances were the target of groups of armed men demanding money and cell phones. In some cases, these robberies had fatal outcomes.

In the past week, this issue has become much more personal. Last week, while leaving the beach in the Ga homeland known as Crocro-Bitae before the sun set, a friend of mine was stabbed in an attempted robbery. I had began to chase the man, until he stopped and I saw a knife in his hand. Fortunately, I was not physically harmed; instead, I took my friend to the hospital where she received over 15 stitches to two separate wounds.

That was Saturday evening. Tuesday morning, I came to the radio station and had that Kwame, one of the on-air volunteers had been robbed at gunpoint the night before. This time, however, it was on the university campus. He had been in the internet café at about 12:30am when two men came in with a machete and a locally made shotgun. They demanded that everyone get on the floor. They then proceeded to collect money, phones, and a laptop computer before escaping unimpeded.

The next day, while taking lunch on campus, I sat to eat with a graduate student from Chicago, United States. While sharing with her what had happened to my friend and I on the weekend, she shared with me her own story. She recounted how she and a colleague from the US had stepped out of the International Student Hostel two hours after their initial arrival in Ghana and were robbed of their bags by men with machetes.

This morning, I came into work to hear that a number of people from the our News Department had been robbed this morning. They had been in their room Akuafo Hall sleeping, when there room was broken into by a number of assailants. They were armed with machetes and a gun. After taking phones and money from the four men sharing a room, one of the robbers gave the order “kill him”. The result was that one of the men in the room was shot. While it was an attempt to kill, the intended target was missed and another man in the room was hit in his groin by the shot.

The most concerning aspect of these situations is that all of these accounts are firsthand, based coming from colleagues and acquaintances. Quite often, these situations are not reported to the police; with that said, there could be many more instances of armed robberies that we have not heard about.

To address this issue, we took to the air to discuss the danger that students are facing on campus. The discussion included many of the victims of the robberies listed, as well as the student president.

What came out of the discussion were a number of concerning facts. As it stands, the security is made up ex-servicemen who have no weapons; these security forces are not a threat to the younger and better armed criminals that are getting away with these robberies. The issue of security on the campus has also been ‘in the pipeline’ over the past few years, yet very little has been done. It is clear that the campus has been a place that armed robbers are getting away with robberies, and it is a place where the exploits seem to be fruitful.

The action suggested is to mobilize students to the university Vice-Chancellors office as well as the head of security. We have also been notifying major media outlets and providing them with contacts to cover the stories.

When I faced the trauma of seeing by friend stabbed and having come so close to a situation that could have been terribly worse in a number of ways, I was reflecting on why I would come across such a circumstance. With the events of this week, I see that it is a much broader and endemic problem. While I would not choose to go through such a situation, I know that the experience allows me to understand to a much deeper degree how such an attack can affect you. The surreal effect on the moment, the replaying of those moments in the mind, coming face to face with your own mortality, and the questions of ‘why?’ and ‘what if?’ – all are now real to me.

As a precaution, I am making sure that I leave the campus before it gets too late. I am also going to be helping with the initiative to address this security emergency.

P.S.

Please don’t be worried. I am staying in prayer and not taking unnecessary chances.