To Every Bad Mouth, A Judicial Padlock Is Hung

(Part 1)



In the year 2008, any first time visitor to Ghana would think that THERE WAS ONLY ONE POLITICAL PARTY INVOLVED IN THE GENERAL ELECTIONS, and that party was the NPP. 98% of the Fm stations that broadcast in the local languages were all aligned with the then ruling party where there was plenty of FUFU, MEAT AND PALM NUT SOUP. Senior officials of the outgoing NPP government embarked upon a series of commission of PROJECTS and even public events which received HUGE COVERAGE in the PRINT and ELECTRONIC MEDIA.



Indeed, it was VERY DIFFICULT TO DISTINGUISH OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMES FROM POLITICAL PARTY ACTIVITIES UNDER THE NPP GOVERNMENT in 2008. The state owned media FAILED TO COMPLY WITH THE CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS of providing equal and balanced coverage to all political parties, and this was a cause for concern. It will be recalled that in 1993, the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled that opposition parties should have equal access to state owned media but it was flouted by the NPP with impunity because their Woman who is the current Chief Justice was there and is still there. It was very, very strange that even the Chief Justice (CJ) who is obliged by Ghana’s Constitution to be INDEPENDENT and VERY NEUTRAL had joined the 2008 NPP election campaign in the chorus of government apologies. How then could the NDC even win any case in the Supreme Court? It never happened because their NPP Woman was there, and that was the reason why the NPP succeeded in manipulating the judiciary completely for 8 years and no one coughed in Ghana. On 22nd December, 2008, the Chief Justice (CJ) was reported to have APOLOGISED TO COMMERCIAL DRIVERS FOR THE WRONGFUL APPLICATION OF THE LAW which had resulted in their jailing under the NPP government. The Chief Justice (CJ) also effected the transfer of some 190 cases in the Central Region for the same effect. Yes, it is a fact that the independence of the judiciary is always the litmus test of EVERY TRUE DEMOCRACY.

However, this independence of the judiciary was seriously compromised by the blatant way in which the Chief Justice (CJ) of Ghana had allowed the judiciary to become a pliable tool in the hands of the NPP government from 2001 to 2008. This explains the reason why Ex-President Kufuor, the hopeless President of Ghana boldly stated that the NDC will NEVER WIN ANY CASE AGAINST THE NPP government and it was TRUE. The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Georgina Wood ambushed Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata and allowed the late Justice Afreh to jailed him amidst heavy security without any notice to his Counsel or himself only for J. A. Kufour to pardon him after he had finished serving his jail term, how sad. The present Chief Justice who is a card bearing member of the NPP was the authority behind the jailing of Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata as she took instructions from J. A. Kufour who was the President of Ghana between January 2001 to 2008. In fact, the NPP never thought that they could ever lose the 2008 general elections, and when they finally lost the elections, Nana Akuffo Addo was never prepared to concede defeat and he never did it until the late President Mills was sworn into office as the President of Ghana on 7th January 2009.

The NPP is an Asante /Akyem party and these Asante/Akyem politicians falsely believe that Ghana belong to them more than any other tribe, political party or group. Secondly they believe that they (NPP) should always be in government and fool about, disobey the laws, subvert the constitutions, miss apply the laws and praise themselves to the high heavens as Champions of Democracy and the rule of law, while at the same time applying kangaroo justice by using the jungle law as stated above with the aid of the Chief Justice. I think Justice Atubuga will not summon me before the Supreme Court just because I have accused his boss, the Chief Justice, she mounted an NPP platform to campaign for the party in 2008 presidential run-off and that was where I equally took her on, so in my own candid opinion, I don’t think I have CROSSED THE SUPREME COURT’S FINAL TOUCH LINE.



There was a difference of 23, 055 votes between the NPP and NDC for either party to win in the 2008 general elections. The electoral commission fixed 2nd January, 2009 for the Tain elections, because that election could DECIDE THE WINNER-but on 1st January, 2009 New Year’s day which was a public holiday, the NPP appealed to the Court to restrain the Electoral Commission from declaring the results of the presidential elections even after the close of votes in Tain until the Commission’s investigations into the alleged irregularities in the Volta Region had been completed. However, these political empty receptacles leading the NPP never made mention of the same irregularities in the Ashanti and Eastern regions of Ghana at all. The NPP was represented by Mr. Atta Akyea an NPP MP elect for Abuakwa south in the Eastern Region and Ms. Irene Addo. The application met with a hurdle, when some lawyers in the court (Mr. Tony Lithur, Mr. Fui Tsikata and Mr. Samuel Cudjoe ) who described themselves as FRIENDS OF THE COURT objected to the court sitting on a Public Holiday. They argued that it was ILLEGAL for the Chief Justice (CJ) who is also the BROTHER-IN-LAW of Mr. Atta Akyea, the NPP lawyer to have given the warrant for the court to sit on a STATUTORY PUBLIC HOLIDAY because Court order 79 allowed ONLY THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNTRY to order a court to sit on a STATUTORY PUBLIC HOLIDAY. Was the Chief Justice the President of Ghana in 2008? NO. This was yet another example of the CHIEF JUSTICE (CJ) who attempted to use the judiciary TO THE ADVANTAGE OF THE THEN RULING NPP GOVERNMENT SINCE SHE IS A CARD BEARING MEMBER and had not hidden her membership of the NPP at all. I am treating her as my political opponent in this article instead of a (CJ). The NPP claimed to have secured an order t o refrain the Electoral Commission from conducting the election at Tain.





However, the NPP could not locate the Electoral Commissioner to be served with that Court order and the elections took place on 2nd January, 2009 with the NDC winning 16,211 votes while the NPP had 14,935 votes, but in an anticipation of a favourable Court decision the NPP had informed their supporters in Tain that the elections would not take place.

Even though they failed to serve the Electoral Commissioner with their illegal court order in 2008. They still asked their supporters to boycott general elections at Tain in 2008. You keep your fingers crossed I shall return when the need arise.

I am done, “Jaanbie Iwaii” Aluta Continua.



CLEMENT SANGAPAREE

MUNICIPAL ORGANIZER

UNITED CADRES FRONT,

OBUASI

EMAIL: clementsang@yahoo.com



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