NDC Must Learn To Respect Court Decisions

Just As Their Main Political Opponents (NPP members) Do.

By Otchere Darko

Reference: “A communications team member of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kakra Essamuah has hinted he will support any coup d’état in the country if Nana Akufo-Addo, presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is declared president by a court of competent jurisdiction” (Ghanaweb General News of Tuesday, 11 December 2012; Source: Joy Online).

NPP and NDC have some bad characteristics that are common to both parties, but those common bad characteristics do not include negative attitude towards the Judiciary. The NPP, despite its many shortcomings, has respect for the Judiciary and its decisions, even where court decisions go against them. The NDC, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of the NPP when it comes to respect for the Judiciary and acceptance of court decisions that go against them. To support the two statements I have just made here, I refer readers to all the cases brought by NPP members and supporters against the Electoral Commission regarding the creation of the 45 new constituencies, [and by implication against the NDC Government that supported the creation of those 45 new constituencies]. The courts ruled against NPP and their supporters on ALL the substantive issues. The NPP and their supporters who took the cases to court, however, accepted the rulings of the courts, without accusing the Judiciary of being ‘pro-NDC’. On the other hand, in previous cases when judgments failed to favour the NDC and its supporters, they (NDC members and supporters), including high ranking party members who ought to know better, jumped unto public platforms and into the streets to insult the Chief Justice and other members of the Judiciary, calling them “pro-NPP”; and sometimes going to the extent of even threatening to attack specific members of the Judiciary. What Mr Kakra Essamuah has allegedly said in the statement at the beginning of this article is another illustration of NDC’s lack of respect for the rule of law.

The NDC cannot choose and pick which court judgments they should accept and which ones they should reject. When a court of competent jurisdiction makes a ruling and the party that lost the case is not satisfied with the ruling of the court, all it can do within the perimeters of the law is to make an appeal against the ruling at a higher court of jurisdiction, where that is allowed by the laws of Ghana. Insulting and intimidating judges, as the NDC is noted for doing, are not only undemocratic; they are also unlawful in Ghana since they amount to causing fear and panic among members of the Judiciary. In particular, the alleged statement by Mr Kakra Essamuah is clearly tantamount to intimidation and causing fear and panic among the Judiciary, especially when the statement is considered in relation to what happened to the three judges who were gruesomely murdered some thirty years ago during the PNDC era.

*President Mahama, as father of the nation, must come out and condemn Mr Kakra Essamuah publicly for saying he would support a military take-over of Ghana, should the court rule in favour of Nana Akufo-Addo and NPP in the election case before it. What Mr Kakra Essamuah said, in my opinion, is worse than the “all-die be die” that was used by Nana Akufo-Addo, and which was heavily and extensively condemned by the rank and file of the NDC .

NDC must lead the moral path and set good example. That is what political leadership is about; and that also is what will help them to win the hearts and minds of independent-thinking Ghanaians, like myself, who seek the peace and progress of the whole nation.

Source: Otchere Darko.