And above all unto thine own self be true

In the Gospels according to St. Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22, we read of desperate and determined attempts by the Chief Priests and the Sanhedrin to find some false evidence against Jesus to enable them put him to death, but they could not find any. Many witnesses told lies about Him but their stories did not agree. Finally, two men stepped forward to accuse Jesus of blasphemy, but they could not even make their stories agree.

During the 4th June insurrection, the betrayals of people trust instigated the masses, mostly students to call for the blood of members of the erstwhile military regime. Thus, let the blood flow became the mantra of the people. The agitation by a gang of riotous mob degenerated into frenzy so much so that the so called liberators and redeemers had to give in by sanctioning the cold blooded murder of some of the best military men Ghana has ever produced. I remember one inscription on a placard which says: Can Col. Slatter weed? You must kill him!

Now almost two decades later, a similar scenario is being enacted right before our very eyes. Before one could say, no do, no do the dice would have been cast. The situation has reached such an alarming proportion like it happened during the trial of Jesus before Pilate when the Priests instigated the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Jews to ask for the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. Now under the surreptitious sponsorship of the NDC, a group has sprung up to demand for the release from prison, of the notorious armed robber, Atta Ayi, convicted of shedding innocent Ghanaian blood.

Yet these people without providing any iota of evidence are everyday calling for the incarceration of NPP men like Hon. Kofi Jumah, Hon. Hickman Owusu Agyemang, Asamoah Boateng, Kojo Mpiani and many others. But where is their evidence?

At one point, when Tsatsu Tsikata was going through his trial which lasted nearly seven years, and was jailed, members of the NDC described the verdict as unjust, unfair and bogus. But what the NDC members have forgotten is that investigation into the Quality Grain Project was stared under the NDC regime. Anytime I write that Tsatsu Tsikata was sacked by the NDC during its last days in office, many people without a sense of history contradict me. But I repeat and I want reactions. Was Tsatsu Tsikata sacked as boss of GNPC by the ex President Rawlings or Not? I say he was sacked what are your views?

Now if they could describe a verdict by a constitutionally established court of lawful jurisdiction as bogus, what moral rights do they have to call for the prosecution of NPP members who are not facing any charges? Do they think that we are still in the so called revolutionary era where the value of human lives degenerated to the level of a chicken? And are all those making such reckless statements/utterances not aware that in a civilized society, the onus of proof of guilt lies with the prosecution and not with the accused? And are they not aware that before the Attorney General advises or sends a case to the courts, he/she would have been sure of evidence available which would likely nail the accused No Attorney General worth his/her sauce would want to lose a case in court. And that is why she has to do indepth investigations into the so-called allegation to ensure she has a good case.

And so all those ignoramuses who, at the least opportunity shout, Jail them.. They are thieves! do not know what they are saying. Ghana is not a land of buffoons and fools. We do things in accordance with due process. The era of madness and darkness when one man could order the arrest, detention and sometimes the execution of another creature of God is gone and gone forever..

Are these proponents of JAIL NPP MINISTERS syndrome not themselves confused? In one breath they claim there is something wrong with our judicial system. In another breath, they want to use the courts to jail NPP ministers. They must be told that we are not in the animal kingdom for them to talk to us as if we have no minds of our own.

Did the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Betty Mould-Iddrissu not describe Ghanaian courts as kangaroo ones and the justices as kangaroo judges. And so if they have enough evidence against any NPP minister, is she going to send the case to any of the kangaroo court? What about the judges? Which of them are not kangaroo ones? May be it is only judges whose sympathies are with the NDC that are going to handle cases involving NPP ministers. By the way, are they going to fast-track cases involving NPP ministers? I don’t think they should if indeed they believe that the fast track courts are indeed unconstitutional. Well, oyiwa, Attorney General and Minister for Justice, over to you.

Now to Iku Kwesi Pratt who is one of those who have adopted a holier that thou attitude, I have this to say to him. We have not forgotten the havoc he caused during the period his party joined forces with the NPP to form the Great Alliance. The Alliance had recommended Kwesi Pratt as Parliamentary candidate in one of the constituencies in Accra. But staunch members of the NPP put forth Sheik I.C. Quaye with the explanation that Sheik is a grass root politician who was likely to win the votes of the ordinary people, unlike Kwesi Pratt who was always quoting copiously from books that were written by people who lived and died several years ago. Now this friendly advice to Iku Kwesi Pratt did not go down well with him. He quickly sold a dummy to the Muslims that the NPP has said the Muslims in Nima and its environs were illiterates and ignorant. Surreptitiously, he organized the Muslims in the environ  to embark upon a demonstration. Since then, it has been one clandestine move by Iku Kwesi Pratt or another until it came out that he is a dye in wood member of the NDC.

Recently a bird whispered into my ears that Iku Kwesi Pratt has moved into a luxurious mansion at Fan Milk area. When questioned about the source of his newly found wealth, he is alleged to have said his wife got a loan from the bank to be used for the project. If Iku Kwesi Pratt’s wife could secure a loan to finance a personal housing project, what prevents the ex-President’s son from doing likewise? I even learnt he is riding a new car. Well, I don’t have much to say other than that if Iku Kwesi Pratt claims to be pratising socialism to its core, why did he leave his former residence for a much lavished and   tasty accommodation? By this movement, has he not alienated himself from the very people whose cause he claims to champion? The truth is that Iku Kwesi Pratt had to move because he too has arrived!  Massa, this is the simple truth.

For Iku Kwesi Pratt to open his mouth to be talking about things which do not make sense gives me a clue that it is not all that glitters which is gold and that those who live glass houses should not throw stones. Iku Kwesi Pratt is carved in the mould of that gun trotter and confusionist Chuck Kofi Wayo who sometime ago seized the airwaves and threatened to jail former ministers in the NPP regime as if he was the spokesperson of the Government.

What baffles me most is the unreliability of the stuff these NDC men and women put on the number which made up the President delegation to Britain. The initial figure was 25. When people spoke out the figure was revised to 27 and then 30. It even came to 31.

Now if we have an Information Minister with two Deputies, a Presidential Spokes person and a Director Communication who could not just simple add up some few figures, then they owe the people a great explanation. They should explain why they should continue to receive their salaries from the sweat and taxes of hard-working Ghanaians. Does this not amount to causing financial loss to the state?

Asiedu Nketia has also called for the prosecution of NPP Ministers and other top functionaries in the NPP Administration otherwise he would resign. He has also accused the NPP of being behind the bribery of Assembly members in order to get approved of D/MCEs. Mm Asem Beba Dabi.

The NDC first set the tone for bribery by asking aspiring D/MCE’s to pay GH 100.00 as filing fee. This was paid in some areas, particularly Ashanti Region. Even when the President of the Republic ordered such Regional Executive Members to refund the amount, such people went on air to tell us that they would not. Here was a case of party men and women at the local level acting with impunity but the National Executives of the party could not call them to order.

Have we forgotten the issue about the nomination and earlier rejection of the DCE for Attebubu? What did the NDC do? It “arrested” twenty six of the Assembly members, hereby referred to as the Talibans and camped them in a hotel at Sunyani. These Talibans were driven straight from their hotel rooms to the venue of voting and prevented from interacting with the remaining six members herein referred to as “the lepers”. Even the voting process was fraught with irregularities as the others were not allowed to witness the counting. If the action of these NDC men and women in government and their supporters could not be regarded as attempts aimed at influencing the voting pattern of the Assembly men and women, I wonder what it is to Asiedu Nketia and the rest.?. Â

This brings me to the statement attributed to Brigadier General Nunoo Mensa, National Security Adviser on the culpability of the former speaker and other members of the erstwhile regime. I would like to recall an incident which took place at Ghanata Secondary School, Dodowa in 1980. I had formed a movement called the Leadership Cadet Corps and it was to be inaugurated. We invited ex President Rawlings to be Guest of Honour. He told us he wanted to maintain a very low profile and recommended Nunoo Mensah and Arnold Quainoo as good substitutes. We contacted Brigadier Nunoo Mensah and he consented to be the Guest of Honour at the occasion. Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, current Minister of Education was Headmaster of the school at the time. Other prominent members on the High Table were Major Avornotse, then Co-coordinator of National Youth Council, Lt.Col. Christine Debrah, then President or was it Chairman of NALCO. I think it was National Association of Local Councils, whose offices were at Tudu, almost opposite the State Transport Corporation Terminal. Others were Dr Adjei Barwua, then Chairman of Ghana Tourist Board, Dr. M.N.Tetteh, MD of UNICLEAN, Mr Kudjorji MD of Jupiter Printing Press and Apostle Barnabbas.

At the reception, he was asked how he felt when President Liman relieved him of his appointment as Chief of Defence Staff and his answer gave me food for thought. That is why I found it difficult to juxtapose his present posture with his former stance. He said he knew he would be sacked for his wife had warned him but he never thought it would be so soon. He added that those at the helm of the military bore the brunt of some of the atrocities of the other ranks during the revolutionary days, for they went through very humiliating and excruciating pain and experience. We pressed him further and asked whether he had any grudge against the Government for relieving him of his post. He said he had none. But as you know a sack creates an impression that he had done something wrong. To him it was his reputation that matters most.

If he, Brigadier Nunoo Mensah was so much worried about his reputation at that time, why does he not think about the reputations of others before criminalizing them? What has the National Security Adviser got to do with the guilt or innocence of an ex government official? Is he the spokesperson for the government? Did he check his facts with the relevant Ministries or Agencies before coming out with a categorical statement on the guilt of his victims? And that is why I suggested in one of my write-ups for all appointees, the national security adviser and the co-coordinator inclusive to go through a period of orientation/training before taking up such sensitive appointments.

Now comes in Honourable Bagbin who would not be outdone by his Chairman and the Security Adviser. He makes damning accusations against the former Speaker and threatens to bring in the police to arrest him. I am sorry that such a statement could come from the majority leader who is a member of the Parliamentary Service Board. Their report on the ex-speaker has not come out and the Majority leader is threatening to invite the police to arrest him.

Those who live in Glass Houses should not throw stones. Was it not this very Bagbin who went to Kumasi and confessed that he was not adequately informed before jumping into the controversial ex-gratia for President Kufuor? He further admitted that Parliamentarians had been misled into making certain reproachful statements on the Chinery – Hesse Committee report. These confessions were made at a forum organized by Parliament in Kumasi. On getting to Accra and due maybe to pressure from the party hierarchy, he denied he had ever made such a confession. What is he afraid of? Was he forced into making the confession at Kumasi? Was the statement made under the influence of emm, I shudder to think so. I am saddened by the Majority Leader’s attitude. You see, the mark of a true gentleman is his willingness and courage to own up when he makes a mistake. The honourable majority leader by his action has shown that he is not honourable after all. If the ex-gratia policy is defective, let us stop it.

You see, one good turn deserves another. The NDC claims that they are following the precedent set by Kufuor when he dissolves all Boards on assumption of power. It was a wrong policy but the NDC sees nothing wrong with it. If we are to go by precedence, then we should not overlook the fact that Rawlings went away with 17 state vehicles and returned 12 after the cars had been in his custody for more than a year. Ex President Rawlings also selected the place which he would use as his office. In comes Mills and Kufuor thinks the same level ground was permitted him and so he selects a place of his choice to be used as his office and all hell is let loose.

Again, outgoing NDC Ministers were allowed to buy their cars some as low as GHC300.00. Then come their counterparts from the NPP who paid $9,000.000 and they are told, No, you cannot do that. It is against the laws of the country. And when I comment on it, NDC apologists would say, hey stop there, Damptey, you have fallen foul of the law. But I say which law? But as Dr J.B..Danquah, the Doyen of Ghana's politics said: I do the best I can do. If the end brings me out all good, all these accusations against me will amount to nothing. But if the end brings me all wrong, even ten thousand angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Now let me end this piece with what was captured during the Newspapers’ Review Segment on Friday at Metro TV. The discussants were Honourable Inusah Fuseini and Honourable Nana Akomeah. Inusah Fuseini had said that the transitional team had made allegations of impropriety against some ex ministers and questioned the rational behind the Ministry of Foreign Affairs importing rice into the country. In answer, Nana Akomeah stated that when the world food crises began, most of the Asian countries like Malaysia, Sri-Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, India and the rest placed a ban on the exportation of rice. The Foreign Ministry got into negotiations with the governments of those countries to lift the ban which they acceded and granted concessions to four African countries, of which Ghana was one. The Ministry of Trade then came on board and with support from the National Investment Bank, importation of rice was resumed. Inusah Fuseini thanked Nana Akomeah for his clarification.

The point I am trying to make here is that if such clarification had not come out, it would have been regarded as malfeasance for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get involved in rice importation. And so it is with all these allegations flying both left and right.. What is happening is not prosecution but persecution of former government officials. On daily basis, you hear sitting Ministers go on air to call ex NPP Ministers thieves. Beyond that of being accused of looting and aggrandizement, there is constant harassment and stigmatizing of former ministers. Honourable Inusah Fuseini describes it as pre-emptive strikes whose main object is to instill fear into the ex-ministers. Does the current Government have evidence to nail these former Ministers? The Transitional Report is just like any ordinary report from any committee. It is for Government to use the report to investigate those allegations. It is only when there are improprieties which bother on criminality that the Mills Government could decide on prosecution of such ex ministers. At the moment, no such measures have been put in place. There must first of all be a probe before prosecution. Anything short of that will amount to political persecution. What we hear on our airwaves and read from the papers are attempts to create some sort of guilts in the minds of the people. It is to prepare their mindset so that if the verdict of guilt comes, it will very well fit into the political agenda of the NDC .

By the way, since when did the NDC fall in love with the Auditor General? Were they not the very people who criticized every report of the auditor general which indicted their members? They have forgotten all those nasty remarks they made about him. And how do they expect us to swallow such reports every line hook and sinker? We are aware of the intense pressure they have made the poor old man go through in order to weaken his resolves and will power. They cannot take us for a ride. We shall use the law courts to pursue our cases. After all, Jacob spent extra years serving his in law for his Rachel. We are prepared to wait for the day when the Ghanaian would be totally emancipated, the day when the rule of law will prevail and where all traces of vindictiveness, persecutions, favouritism, arbitrariness and buga buga tactics would be things of the past.

This is the day we all are waiting for and it will be quicker than you envisage. To this end, let all Ghanaians, irrespective of tribal and religious affiliations set in motion, measures to endear the New Patriotic Party to the hearts of everybody. We shall surely be there!.

Daniel Danquah Damptey

E-mail : [email protected]

Tel. No: 0243715297.