Opinions of Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Columnist: Adofo, Rockson
Former Supreme Court Justice Kpegah crawling out of his Hibernation to Face Nana Akufo Addo
Sunday, 7 April, 2013
As the former executed President of Iraq, President Saddam Hussein, once receded, crawled into a lair to hibernate, hoping to come back stronger but unfortunately not, so shall it be with former Supreme Court Justice Francis Kpegah.
Justice Kpegah for reasons only best known to him and he only, has lately vociferously accused Nana Akufo Addo of impersonation, a possible murderer, practicing law in Ghana without having the requisite legal documents and failure to go through laid down procedures prior to one becoming a practicing lawyer in Ghana. He is praying the court to perpetually banish him from continuing to practice law in Ghana, ban him from carrying himself about as a practicing lawyer, close down his Law firm in Ghana, and disband anyone trained by Nana's Law firm and still working for, or with the firm, from practicing law in Ghana.
Justice Kpegah, a highly indebted person who has accumulated hundreds of thousands of Ghana New Cedis in rent and utility bills arrears, may have reason and may be right but as probably unintelligent old man suffering from dementia, I call his integrity and real motive behind his legal suit against Nana Addo into question.
He goes on to pray the Court to investigate how Nana Akufo Addo came by his name NANA. He claims he has checked and cross-checked the Chieftaincy Act granting the status of NANA to persons enthroned as chiefs. However, nowhere in Ghana has Nana Akufo Addo been crowned a chief, not even a Development Chief (Nkoso3hene) as frivolously being dished out in Ghana to every Tom, Dick and Harry, at the caprices of the "Amanhene". On this one note, my suspicion about Justice Kpegah being a senile old man is confirmed.
Justice Kpegah is not an Akan but an "Awona" so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I will also give him free tutorials or a lecture on how one can earn the name NANA in the Akanland. Before I proceed any further, let me remind my readers that the Ewes have disowned him. They assert that he is not one of them but an "Awona", so please take note. "Back to Bataan", when a child is named after one's grandparents or great grand parents, regardless of the sex of the child and who the child is named after, out of respect for the grandparents, we very often call the child Nana. This instance of calling the child Nana can be official, appearing on the child's birth certificate or unofficial, not appearing on his or her birth certificate. If the child is also named after say, a chief or a queen, we often similarly out of respect for whom the child is named after, call him or her Nana. If a child is named after someone who already is called Nana for a reason or the other, the child automatically bears same Nana. I think Justice Kpegah will no longer make any nonsensical issue about Nana Akufo Addo although not been sworn in anywhere in Ghana as a chief, still goes by the name NANA.
I am still waiting for answers to questions once asked to Justice Kpegah, who was less than a decade ago addressed as "My Lord" by prosecution and defence lawyers standing before him prosecuting or defending the accused or the accuser. He is now without any respect in the eyes of many a Ghanaian except his "Awona" tribesmen and other "educated illiterates" doing the dirty work of the clueless NDC government.
May I repeat, or add to the questions asked?
1. Did Justice Kpegah, the embodiment, upholder and defender of justice, fairness and equality, know very well that Nana Akufo Addo was not a lawyer before former President Kufuor appointed him the Attorney General and Minister of Justice? Do you answer, Yes or No?
2. If he knew, did he bring it to the attention of President Kufuor? If he did, what did President Kufuor do or say?
3. If he knew, but failed to bring it to the President's attention, why did he fail to do so?
4. If he never knew, when did he become aware of Nana Akufo Addo's impersonation? What did he do when he immediately became aware of Nana's criminality? Did he report him to the police or decided to lay in ambush for him until the right time when Nana became more vulnerable?
5. When did he become aware of Nana Akufo Addo having mortal remains of a body buried under unusual circumstances and in an inexplicable condition in the premises of his law firm? What was his immediate reaction to that discovery? How and when did he discover that?
6. Is Justice Kpegah not being simply envious of Nana Akufo Addo, for being very successful in his legal profession and he, Kpegah, being Mr. Nobody yet, buried in inexplicable monumental debt?
7. If Justice Kpegah has for years been aware of Nana's criminal record if indeed there is any, but had failed to report it until now; presiding over cases brought before him with Nana as the prosecution or the defence lawyer, and he, Kpegah, judging such cases in favour of a quack lawyer as Nana, then Kpegah is in a big trouble. He will be charged with aiding and abetting crime. He has also opened himself up for civil suits by all those he found guilty when Nana had played a lawyer's role of some sort.
8. Did Nana Akufo Addo use his impersonated status as a lawyer to help Ghanaians or he used it to steal from people, corrupted himself or needlessly intimidated people?
Anyway, let me leave this for the courts to decide but not until I have dragged him on the floor, holding him by the foot, to the cleaners. He claims to be an upholder of justice, fairness and equality, hence, his action against Nana Akufo Addo. Let me ask him again, where was he when his "Awona" tribesman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome duped Ghana of GHC51.2 Million? Was he dead or alive? Did he hear about it or not? If he did not, has he now heard about it? And, if he has, what is he now doing about it?
Has Justice Kpegah heard about the GHC15 Million the government spent on only 600 live guinea fowls and 20 eggs? What about the GHC33 million said to have been spent by the government on the reforestation of the North through SADA but there is not a single planted tree to show for that capital outlay? What is Kpegah doing about that? Is he aware of the official corruption in perpetuation by the NDC government that has brought the country to the brink of civil unrest or a military coup d'état?
Addressing the above-mentioned issues is now the pre-occupation of discerning Ghanaians but not whether or not Nana Akufo Addo has impersonated one W. A. D. Akufo Addo that Kpegah does not know where the person is, either alive or murdered in London or Ghana, by his own acknowledgement.
I think I had better not waste my precious time on this probably mad dog called Kpegah who is seeking Nana Addo to bite to infect him with rabies. Excuse my French if I have been very hard on Kpegah. Do hard words break bones? No, they don't. Then, there we go.
I am sorry to use this platform to announce that Mr. Bannor from Kumawu (Zongo) although resident in Kumasi, has kicked the bucket. He has joined his wife (Auntie Paulina) to "Asamando" barely two to three weeks after her death. They are both yet to be buried. Now, Nana Fosuah of Kumawu Abenaso has seen her granddaughter. Nana Kwabena Osei has also seen his daughter and son-in-law. My condolences to the entire Paulina and Bannor families of Kumawu - Sammy Kofi Duffour, Wofa Kwabena Osei, Wofa Kwabena Dapaah, Nana Sarpong, Nana Bonsu (Japan), Maame Gyaamah, Soso, Senior Bannor, Nana Kofi (London), Afi, Kofi Serebuor etc.
Wherever Nana Fosuah is in the underworld, she will be happy to hear that her great grandson is ……….
Rockson Adofo