“Two cheers for democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism” -E. M. Forster
Ezekiel 3:19: Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul”.
Will someone clap for Jesus! Will someone shout: ‘Amen’! will someone pray with me! We are so consumed by Christianity (or rather religiosity) that every celebration is started and ended with a prayer.
Whoever speaks against the practice is an anti-Christ, a demon, a devil, a friend, an incubus so we all pretend, feign, and disguise. When Ghana Airways was tottering as a result of mismanagement, in 2003, a London-based Ghanaian evangelist was invited to lead a “healing and deliverance” service aimed at exorcising evil spirits from the affairs of the Airline-1500 employees with more drivers than vehicles, more typists than typewriters.
And when we sat back for ‘galamsey’ to wreak havoc, a deanery of pastors went to a ‘galamsey’ site to pray for ‘redemption’. Meanwhile, the clerks at the Ministry responsible for land were signing off land for people to do ‘galamsey’. Sorry, we were talking in our dream-sleep walking, day dreaming, perhaps we need an oneirocratic- one who interprets dreams.
The ex-Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo, stirred up a hornet’s nest when she joined the individual bondholders picketing at the Ministry of Finance. Unprecedented!
She had played an important role before as Chief Justice but now that she had been “ungagged” by the ethics of the profession, she felt “free” to articulate her personal opinions.
Look, Matthew says in Chapter 7:1-3: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
On 18/02/23, the ex-Chief Justice granted an interview to Joy News. To the Q: “Why did you join the picketing?” A: “Empathy…Love your neighbour as yourself. It struck me deep. Q: “Why now” A: “Why not now?”
The 73-year-old Sophia attended Wesley Girl’s High School, Cape Coast (after her primary education at Parliament Hill School, Hampstead, London) and earned LLB Degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana in 1975.
She worked with various Law firms (Campbell, Fugar) and various corporations: Ghana Airways, Mobil Oil and established her own Legal firm, Akuffo Legal Consultancy (now Apex Law Consult). After private practice, Flt Lt Rawlings elevated her to the Supreme Court in 1995. She served under Rawlings, Kuffuor, Atta Mills and Mahama as one of the pioneering judges of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights.
In June 2017, the President Nana Addo appointed her as the Chief Justice of Ghana, in accordance with Article 144 (1) of the 1992 Constitution.
At the swearing-in of the Chief Justice Akuffo these were the words of President Nana Addo: “… Their Excellencies Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kuffuor (President Mahama was out of the jurisdiction)… the decision in favour of multi-party democracy… our unhappy experience with authoritarian rule, … the final judicial power is …in the judiciary… with jurisdiction in all matters of the breach of the law, civil and criminal… Ghanaian democracy was enhanced by the decision of the then Chief Justice, Georgina Wood to broadcast the proceedings of the petition on television.
It helped in the process of demystifying judicial proceedings and helped send the clear message from the majority on the court that the controlling principle of judicial intervention in elections was the result delivered at the Polling Stations which would not be easily reversed by a court.
“I am confident that Justice Sophia Abena Boafoa Akuffo will be an effective leader of the judiciary, and will guard jealously its independence. Her attributes, befitting the offspring of a prominent Presbyterian priest, hard work, discipline, capacity for detailed research, intimate knowledge of the law, independence of mind and spirit, honesty and integrity, deep-seated respect for the rule of law and for the best traditions of the legal profession.”
She is a member of various commissions and committees, including the national Covid-19 Trust Fund, whose board she chairs.
Justice Akuffo, ex-Chief Justice in the Joy News interview stated that she gets “irritated” when people associate her name with that of the President Akuffo, thinking therefore that she got her appointment as Chief Justice for nepotistic considerations. She had capacity… She remained a “friend of everyone and enemy to none.” To her, a contract is a contract. Yes, we took a debt … what was it used for? Where is accountability?
Gabby Otchere-Darko who was described by ex-Chief Justice Akuffo as a “disturbance” has noted that he did not insult the former Chief Justice; and Finance Minister Ofori-Atta says the government will not punish any bondholder who did not participate in the DDEP. Dr. Adu Anane who led the team was in Ofori Atta’s office to “… thank the minister… for this show of “magnanimity.”
And, as Malcolm notes in ‘Macbeth’: “Angels are bright still, though the brightest (Lucifer) fell. Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, yet grace must still look so”. Does it fit Sophia Akuffo?
The nagging question remains: “What would have been the fate of the individual bondholders who refused to sign into the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, had the former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo not waded in?”
We cannot boldly give a “yes” or “no” answer. She says she joined those who were picketing in solidarity. The motive? To solidarize with the elderly individual bondholders who depended on the earnings from the bond to pay their electricity, water and ancillary bills-not least the medical ones! And, you know, the agony of old age: lower back pain, kidney problems, persistent fever, osteoarthritis, non-arthritis/with wear-and-tear of the cartilage, pelvic pain, carpal tunnel, muscle strain, rheumatism, prostate.
And as Lord Tennyson (Morte d’ Arthur) puts in “The old order changeth yielding place to new… Last scene of all that ends this strange, eventful history, is second childishness and mere oblivion… sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything” John F. Kennedy said in 1962: “Democracy may not be perfect but at least I don’t have to build a wall to keep my people in, “and Winston Churchill noted in 1953: “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter “But Matthew says in 5:43-45 “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.”
Like Timothy Winters, we say “Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen Amen.”
Africanus Owusu-Ansah
africanusowusu1234@gmail.com