After Mallam Isa, Selormey - Who Next ?

Majority of people interviewed in Accra, Tema and Kumasi after the reversal of the previous 5-4 majority verdict of the Fast Track Court (FTC), have expressed their happiness with the change.

They expressed this in a random survey. It was conducted between last Friday and Monday, July 1, the Republic Day. The respondents said the reversal of the first decision on the legality of the Fast Track Courts would ensure expeditious delivery of justice in cases that find their way to the FTCs.

Some of the respondents said they have been waiting with bated breath anticipating the return of the FTCs because according to them, it offers a very modern, reliable, speedy dispensation of justice compared to the traditional courts which some of them described as derogatorily as slow track courts.

They said when they first heard of the Mallam Issah $46,000 case, they became very sad because they believed that the man actually meant well, except that he might have played into what they called the hands of the "Mafia" at the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Turning to the former Deputy Finance Minister, Mr. Victor Selormey, who is serving an eight-year term at the Nsawam prisons in hard labour, following the alleged transfer of an amount of $1.2 million to his friend Dr. Frederick Owusu Buadu of Lebda Corporation of the Texas O&A University in the USA they said they viewed the Selormey case quite differently.

A Mr. Alexander Amoah, Managing Director of Newway Business Enterprise at Abeka Lapaz in Accra said in his view, there was nothing to fear whether a court is Fast Tracked or not. According to him, there should be no cause for alarm, because the courts are investigative bodies whose mission is to seek the truth and to prescribe punishment for offenders.

Therefore, in his view, whoever is paraded before the Fast Track Courts should not see it as harassment or a political trial since accused persons have counsels to ensure that the due process is followed. Hear him: "I don't suspect any political trials in these cases. Those who were already on trial before the controversy arose as to the constitutionality of the FTCs should rather see it as an opportunity for them to prove their innocence.

I don't think that the judges have any prejudices against any of the accused persons on trial otherwise, that would erode confidence in the FTCs. According to him, the question that he has always been asking since the inceptions of the FTCs is: "after Mallam Issah, Victor Selormey, who next"?

The guidelines on the establishment of the FTCs, say that judges sitting on cases have six months to hear evidences from witnesses and to come out with their judgement; the normal High Courts (slow track courts) could take a long as three to five years or even more to hear and to determine cases. John Andoh, speaking from Kumasi, told the Daily Guide that he believes that the return of the FTCs should not present any grounds for a person or group of persons from one political persuasion to fear because in his view, the FTCs are there for all Ghanaians.

He, however, implored the Kufuor government not to make any attempt to shield or protect any New Patriotic Party (NPP) official, activist or functionary who may abuse his/her office for financial gain.

This is because, according to him, leadership is by example and that the only way to give practical meaning to the government's self-declared dictum "zero tolerance for corruption" is for the government to have the temerity and tenacity of purpose to parade its own functionaries before the FTCs if found to have allegedly engaged in any malfeasance or fraudulent deals to amass wealth at the expense of the tax-payer.

He surmised that if these were done, it would go a long way to give respectability and build confidence in the FTCs as the most efficient reliable, accurate and speedy means of trial judicially in the country.

Nana Francaise Anum, a fish monger at Tema New Town, noted that she was particularly happy because she herself had been a victim of the slowness associated with the traditional courts. She observed that in 1997, her six-month-old daughter was defiled by a 72-year-old man. The case went to court, but up to date, the case has not been disposed of, and, suggested that if it were possible, the community tribunals should be equipped with computers and other systems associated with the FTCs.

Meanwhile, the quality Grain case in which five former government officials are standing trial for their alleged role in the loss of $22 million and ?3 billion to the state, has been adjourned to July 16, 2002. The adjournment was granted at the instance of the prosecution in view of the impending training court officials have to undergo.

It was also to allow the court to properly sit after a long break, due to the freezing of the Fast Track Court which was declared illegal, but later declared legal and constitutional by a 6-5 majority ruling. All the accused persons were present when the case was mentioned yesterday.

They are Mr Ibrahim Adam, former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kwame Peprah, former Finance Minister, Dr Samuel Dapaah, former Chief Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Mr George Yankey, former Director at the Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance and Nana Ato Dadzie, former Chief of Staff at the Castle.

They have all pleaded not guilty and the court has granted them each a self-cognisance bail. All, but Dr Yankey is yet to finish with his evidence, which was truncated by the 5-4 decision at the end of February, this year.

The woman at the centre of the scandal, Mrs Juliet Cotton, Chief Executive of Quality Grain Ghana Limited, is alleged to be connected with several fraud scandals. She is due to be sentenced on August 29, 2002, in the United States of America, according to reports received here from the US recently.

Her upcoming sentencing derives from a jury conviction in Atlanta on June 17, 2002, on 35 counts of bank fraud, money laundering and making false statements. Investigations conducted revealed that a company, Agri-Tech, which was said to have supplied agricultural machinery to the Aveyime Rice Project worth $12 million, never existed.