“Law and order provide framework for stability and development”
–Lee Kuan Yew
“When the government gives you a black goat, say it was a white cow”
–NDC propaganda message
“All right, stone her to death – but only a man who has never sinned may throw the first stone”
— The Living Bible
Crime everywhere is crime. This country can only develop in an environment of law and order. That is why every infringement of law and order must be taken seriously and dealt with quickly. The nation cannot continue to live in the past in our sins. But in trying to find a solution we have to be careful we do not throw both the baby and the water out of the tub. We do not have to circumvent the law to seek justice. Let us listen to the wise counsel of Martin Kaiser Alamisi Amidu, the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Republic of Ghana and put them side-by-side with the sins of the Delta Force.
Martin Amidu is quoted to have spoken these words of wisdom: “The contention that because a suspected crime involves members of a political party in power, the Attorney-General must for that reason alone personally see the docket before professional attorneys advise on it as discriminatory against other citizens. Re-arresting suspects who have contested their arrest and submitted themselves to the Republic to prove their guilt and against each of whom the Republic lacks evidence to prosecute will be inconsistent with and in contravention of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizen and accordingly unconstitutional.
“Should the Attorney-General be of the view that because the suspects are alleged to be NPP members, she can find the evidence to prosecute them in spite of the available docket, she has a right to call for the docket and give further directives on them. But let me say for the purpose of the office of the Attorney-General that it is professional misconduct on the part of an Attorney-General to question the professional officers simply because they choose to act as lawyers and not politicians. The judiciary understands the presumption of innocence and the fact that only suspects against whom evidence is available may be prosecuted”
A Daniel has come to judgment. How many people of wisdom do we have in the country today? Very few indeed. What we have in plentiful supply are criminals, sycophants, hypocrites, buffoons, jackals and educated illiterates. We allowed Nana Drobo to die in a mysterious and tragic manner with the secrets of his AIDS cure and the state failed to investigate his untimely death. The Japanese invited Nana Drobo to Japan. He travelled to Japan through the normal route. Nobody knows the route Nana Drobo used on his return journey. What we know is that on his return, he was shot dead in a thick forest before he could set foot in his village. Apostle Safo being a mortal will not live forever. Our times need Martin Amidu and we have to make use of their brains before they whittle away.
What sin did the men of Delta Force commit and how would the NDC have handled it? As somebody who watches events from the touch line, I can only hazard a guess. The men of Delta Force watched with suspense, disbelief, surprise, exasperation, anguish, anger, consternation as they felt in their wisdom the leadership of the NPP made fools of themselves in appointing a misfit to a very sensitive state position in Ashanti Region. They simply could not sit down unconcerned while the victory they had fought so hard with their sweat and blood evaporate into thin air before they had the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labour. They must have used all rational means apart from seeking court injunction to dissuade the leadership of their beloved party from making the appointment. They must have come to their wits end
Of course these are men without certificate in legal jurisprudence, financial wizardry, rocket science engineering or poetry recital. The only certificate they may have could be certificate in fighting obtained in the dark alleys of the very poor deprived districts of our inner cities. So going to court to seek injunction was out of the question. As the famous Floyd Mayweather said: “boxing is my job”. “fighting’ is the business of the men of Delta Force. So when all persuasion failed, aggression had to follow. Hence they invaded the premises of the Regional Coordinating Council to disrupt the swearing-in ceremony, an act which again I presumed might have been spontaneous on their part. They fell foul of the law and the law should be allowed to deal with them.
But these are no ordinary men. They form the grassroots of the political party. Any political party disconnects itself from its grassroots at its own peril. If the Labour Party had been judged on performances alone, that party would be in power in Great Britain, ditto ditto the Democratic Party in the United States. Today, these two parties are trying to rediscover their roots. Today the NDC is counting the cost of arrogance and neglect towards its grassroots. It passes all understanding and beats all imagination that for a political party which was in the political wilderness for thirty good years, gained power and just lost it eight years later to regain it after another eight years it has not learnt any lessons
John Agyekum Kufuor’s NPP administration could not retain power for Nana Akufo-Addo despite all the social interventions because of the administration’s disconnect with the grassroots. We have situations where political heavyweights in Accra use their connections at the party hierchay to manipulate affairs at the grassroots creating the impression that they speak for the masses. During the recent elections, many candidates would have contested the elections as independent candidates had good counsel not prevailed because party heavyweights in Accra manipulated the decision making process to thwart the genuine efforts of many party men at the grass roots to stand for elections.
When the educated elite sit in Parliament and make laws which favour themselves, they fail to reason that the men and women of the grassroots are watching. What they fail to recognise is that it is the labour and services of the poor which give value to the wealth of the rich. Without the poor to provide services the rich needs, the wealth of the rich in society would be useless. When we have article 71 in our Constitution which seeks to legitimise corruption among the educated elite, what should you expect from the grassroots? Parliament could pass a law which granted pension to former members of Parliament who are over 50 years and had spent two terms in Parliament in addition to earning sumptuous gratuity at the end of every term and yet could not think of passing a law to put members of vigilante groups on government payroll.
We have a Parliamentary Accounts Committee which wastes a lot of the national resources in organized televised sittings for the past twenty years or so and yet cannot think of doing the right thing of passing a law to enable it enforce its directives. Talk shop. And they are all honourable men and women. Trash! This our society is not just creating vigilante forces. It is producing suicide bombers, men and women steamed in mob action because of gross injustice. Why are those criminals at GSA and NCA walking freely and enjoying their booty? Is the law not an ass? Do we need Special Prosecutor to act?
By Kwame Gyasi
E-mail” macgyasi@gmail.com