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Opinions of Saturday, 14 November 2015

Columnist: Seshie, Stanley

The Big Brother Conspiracy Theory of Mr. Martin Amidu; Should Ghanaians be Worried?

By Stanley Seshie

Conspiracy theories are in most cases convincing. The theories piece
together seemingly unrelated events that forces people to find links
where probably there is none. After all the traditional logic of
"cause-and-effect" is the easiest means of interpreting collections of
events in the human world. Therefore, to most of us, correlation is
causation. All they have to do is bring almost all scattered events
together in one garden, and the human mind will do the rest of the
trick of finding the pattern of causation even if there is none.

This generic tendency to impose order on disorder is likely the
background of Mr. Maritn Amidu's recent epistles of letters on the
heels of Government and the "dummy and fraudulent unregistered" Tiger
Eye PI. The whole epistles is but intelligently putting together
events and comments of Government and Tiger Eye PI in one garden and
inviting the public to look in. So let us look into the Amidu's
garden.

In the garden, usually most of the people in the Executive arm of
Government are drawn from the Legislative arm as well, hence
composite. The Judiciary is the only theoretically (maybe also
practically) separate and independent functional arm. However, the NDC
Government had always, since the times of late President Mills sees
the independent Judiciary as an appendage of the Opposition NPP. This
perception thrived not only among the current Officials, but it was
even shared by most Ghanaians.

This perception was seemingly "justified" since the Government had
never won any trials in court against the former government Officials
that it sees as engaged in fraudulent and explicit acts of corruption.
In addition, the former Officials and their staunch supporters openly
boast of it, in what they termed as the inability of this Government
(or is it the impenetrability of a pretentious independent Judiciary,
rather controlled by Opposition NPP) to competently prosecute the
former State Officials given the batteries of allegations of
wrongdoings during their tenure.

In sum, nothing had been done to realizing the main campaign message
of late President Mills led NDC Government, which is to launch an
unrelenting and uncompromising blistering attack against corruption
and make it unattractive hence risky to engage in by Government
Officials down to the civil servants. Annoyingly, all efforts towards
doing so, particularly via punishment of former Officials via legal
means are met with internal resistance in the Judiciary under the
pretense of insufficient evidence.

The thought to investigate the Judiciary was born. But, going forward
into 2015, in the views of Mr. Martin Amidu not only had the fight
against corruption failed miserably, worst of all, the current
Government Officials has taken over the driving wheels of corruption.
Whether on the blind side of the late President Mills to the living
and ruling successor John Dramani Mahama, the NDC composite Government
is systematically engaged in acts of corruption involving colossal
sums of money.

At least the cases that come to mind to buttress the cases pointing
towards systemic corruption as perpetrated by this Officials are the
wrongful payment of huge sums of money to Isofoton, Waterville, Woyome
and others such as SADA. That, he, Mr. Martin Amidu had had to
retrieve some for the nation through the courts though the complicit
Government via the Attorney General says nothing could be done about
the payment. The perception of systemic corruption perpetrated by this
new Government pervades and grips the populace as well. In sum, the
NDC Government, via the lens of Mr. Martin Amidu, is more corrupt than
it is not. As a result they are seeking protection.

The protection will be found in confirming the perception of
corruption in the Judiciary. So, the composite Government had
succeeded in rolling in the Judiciary via the works of Tiger Eye PI
led by Anas Aremeyaw Anas. Through Anas work, corruption in the
Judiciary is no longer a perception. It is a reality, a confirmed one
for that matter to both the public and the Government. Beyond the
public jubilation of their confirmed suspicion, maybe, at least to the
Government this also tentatively explains why no case had ever be won
against the former Officials.

What is worst, the public is bamboozled into hanging seriously onto
the Judicial corruption scandal to the neglect of the already
established (though always denied) rampant canker swallowing up the
Executive tied to the Lesgislative members that constitute the
Government. In other words, the lackadaisical attitude of Government
in attacking corruption within itself has found a fitting smokecreen
in that of the Judiciary. They must deal with corrupt Judges.
Interestingly, dealing with the Judges will certainly take time since
technicalities and legalities will dominate the procedures and
understandably so.

However, since it is in the interest of the public that the Government
deal with such Judges, they have to do so in ways that will not
undermine the Judiciary as a whole. Moreover, since it is impossible
and illogical to declare the Judges not tempted by Anas' methodical
investigation work as incorruptible, the best option is to let some of
the Judges caught by Tiger Eye PI appear so. So even if there are no
video to the effect (as alleged by Mr. Martin Amidu), that some of the
Judges resisted the bribes and threatened to sue Tiger Eye PI, ( which
they not have done) the people will certainly buy into them. And they
did.

Accordingly, the public is satisfied and ready to vilify and crucify
the alleged corrupt Judges than ever finding out if indeed there are
some who overcame the temptation. Also via the lens of Mr. Martin
Amidu, more crucial to this implied corrupt Government is penetrating
to making to planting cronies and clerisies of Judges as suspected to
have been done by the main Opposition NPP long ago. In that regard,
the NDC Government saved some Judges and selected others for
prosecution.

The Judges selected for protection via the fiat of the Government and
presented to the public as incorruptible among the tempted lots, are
in fact the beginning of NDC gaining root in the Judiciary. Thanks to
the works of Tiger Eye PI led by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, these protected
Judges have video documented skeleton in the coffins to fear for any
thought and action of non-commitment towards NDC as a Government now,
or a party someday in the Opposition.

Therefore, Mr. Martin Amidu, whilst recognizing the indispensable good
works of Anas, believes that the Government is using Tiger Eye PI to
achieve ulterior motives probably unknown to Anas. Anas' corruption
scandal work is done, and complete. Nevertheless, it will be naive to
limit the use of the work to simply expunging corrupt Judges from
Judiciary. It has the potentiality of giving birth to Big Brother,
especially if the alleged total works of Anas that is not limited to
Judiciary alone, but includes the tied Executive and Legislative arms
as well remains hidden.

So what is the Big Brother theory? According to Mr. Martin, the Big
Brother theory describes a Government with damning information about
some members of its arms (Executive, Legislature and Judiciary) which
will ensures that the latter kowtows to the wills of the former
throughout. In this case, the composite Government had in its
possession a video of corrupt practices involving the Opposition MPs
serving on various Committees of Parliament. If it is released, the
public will blame the ruling Government more than the Opposition, for
without its will and initiative such a collusion (if there is) cannot
go on. Meanwhile if kept secret forever, it will equally serve as a
seal for both NDC and NPP, the two leading parties that Ghanaians
always alternate political power between.

This means, going forward, with some Judges calculatedly saved and
portrayed as incorruptible, it will be impossible to, ever pronounce
any politician guilty of any malfesance in this country as far as
those skeletons exist (if it exist at all) unknown to the public. In
principle then, this symbiotic collaboration gives the Big Brother (a
ruling Government), the leveraging power to do almost anything. The
Judiciary cannot even talk because, in the minds of Ghanaians via the
works of Anas, they have no moral ground to. Now let us get out of the
garden. Whatever you see in this garden is yours.

It is imaginable that Mr. Martin Amidu actually has no concrete to
back up his claims against the possible collusion (known to both or
known to only one party) between the Government and Tiger Eye PI than
rely on piecing together events and comments from the past as
conspiracy theorists do. Of course, no matter how convincing
conspiracy theories are, they forever lack the needed concrete
evidence to nailing their induced conviction. Meanwhile it is equally
important to be reminded that "absence of evidence is not evidence of
absence" especially in the evolving political matters of corruption
where subtlety is the Chinese wall separating the people from their
leaders.

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