Rawlings? Statements Not Treasonable ? Attorney General

The office of the Attorney General has stated that former President Jerry Rawlings cannot be charged for treason following his utterances in Kumasi. The office noted that treason is a first degree felony, the punishment of which is death upon conviction and therefore cannot constitute the basis for it.

The Evening News newspaper quotes a source at the Department as saying that painstaking investigations by the security agencies should be able to establish that attempts have been made physically to subvert or over throw the constitution of the republic before a charge of treason could be leveled against anybody.

It said a report of two days of investigations by the Bureau of National Investigations could not adequately form the basis of a treason charge. To charge anybody for treason, the source explained, investigations should be able to establish that steps have actually been taken towards the action. It said if the former President could be charged at all following his outbursts that would have been possible under the law of sedition, which has been expunged from the country?s statue books.

On whether the former President could have been prosecuted if his actions and utterances constituted treason, the source said the onus would have rested on the Attorney General. ?It is only the A-G, who can decide to prosecute or not to prosecute and I don?t think anybody can begrudge him for that?. It is recalled that the former President at a seminar for the NDC Women?s wing of the NDC in Kumasi, called on Ghanaians to adopt a Positive Defiance attitude to halt the rot in the system. The BNI invited him for questioning after which a report was submitted to the Attorney General.