His Excellency Barack Obama, the 44th President of
the United States is widely reported as having made a profound admonition to
the citizens of Ghana and other African States to focus on building strong
institutions rather than strong men if we are interested in consolidating our
democratic gains as a country and continent. In fact, President Obama chose
Ghana as the first Sub-Saharan country to pay an official visit when he became
the President of US citing our enviable democratic credentials which had made
us the beacon of hope and shining example for the rest of Africa. Indeed, Ghana
has consistently been acclaimed World over as the finest democratic country on
the continent making her the gateway to Africa because of our unconditional
respect for the Rule of Law, unmatched human rights records and peaceful
coexistence.
You can call it an anticlimax or whatever but what
you can't deny is the fact that today, Ghana has shamefully lost this enviable
niche it has carved for itself over several decades as the citadel of democracy
on the continent. Our hitherto, respect for human rights, democratic principles
and Rule of Law have all been thrown to the dogs whilst high levels of
injustices, disdainful regard for human rights and our court systems, petty
politicking, official and institutional impunity as well as flagrant violations
of laws have all of a sudden, become our lot. What is more nauseating and mind
boggling is that people who ought to know better including heads of some State
Agencies and Institutions, government officials and Ministers of State among
others are all caught in this reprehensible web of "lawlessness" which
is eroding our democratic gains.
I am really saddened by some of these developments
which I must contend, have reached a notorious crescendo under the government
of President Mahama regrettably. Now more than ever in our history, the
manifest impunity at which some state agencies especially the police, national
security and the BNI consistently disregard the rights of citizens and Court
Orders is too apparent. Meanwhile these security agencies are supposed to be
the law enforcers but have rather metamorphosed into "law breakers"
and no one is able to call them to order. There is every reason to believe that
these agencies sometimes allow themselves to be manipulated by the unbridled
coercive powers of government for political expediency. If you ever doubted this
assertion, then surely the recent arrest and unlawful detention of the South
African trio, captain Koda (Rtd) and the outlandish fallouts should clear all
your doubts about government's surreptitious interference in the affairs of
these security agencies.
So what are the narratives? On March 22, 2016, the
whole nation was thrown into a state of fear and panic with the scary banner
headline of the state owned Daily Graphic as well as pro-government media
outlets that suggested a TERROR ALERT in Ghana following the arrest of some 3
South Africans who were alleged to have been engaged in some military drills
and mercenary activities with the view to jeopardizing the security of this
country. The commonality and syndication of the reportage by all these
newspapers coupled with the propagandist nature it was crafted to paint Nana
Addo and the NPP as a violent party succinctly suggest that the statement was
prepared and leaked to the media by some government officials for political
expediency. I am not surprised that on their website, the GBC cited the
Flagstaff House Communications Bureau and the "notorious" Stan Dogbe
as the original source of the story even though GBC was later
"compelled" to apologize to Stan Dogbe but interestingly never purged
the Flagstaff House Communications Bureau of this so called problematic
miscommunication. How smart a move that was!
Again, government communicators have all of a
sudden become the spokespersons of the BNI justifying every action they
undertake regarding this unfolding saga including the arrest and unlawful
detention of people beyond the constitutionally mandated 48 hours, unlawful
refusal to allow their lawyers have access to them, and worst of all,
flagrantly disregarding Court Order to release suspects. President Mahama must
realize that we all see him as our legitimate president because the Courts say
so. Again, Ghanaians respect and cooperate with the security agencies like the
police, BNI et al because our laws and for that matter the courts say so. This
business about disregarding the Courts when they give judgments that government
or its agencies deem unfavorable like the WoyomeGate, BNIGATE and the likes is
very sickening and dangerous to our democracy. You can't pick and choose only
when it suits you.
Surprisingly, the people that we are told are
terrorists, mercenaries, rebels, ex-police officers and later business men have
been deported back to their country. Yet we still live with the notorious GITMO
2, who are certified al-Qaeda terrorists/fighters arrested on the battle field
in Afghanistan and are now being fed with our taxes. How ironic! Government has
now dropped all the charges against the SA 3 because first of all, their arrest
was meant to make Ghanaians feel unsecured so that we would all support the infamous
SPY BILL, which will allow the BNI and National Security unlimited and
unsupervised access to our private conversations under the disguise of so
called security concerns. Secondly, their arrest and the accompanying topsy
turvy reportage was for propaganda reasons to paint the NPP and Nana Addo in
particular as a violent man ahead of the 2016 polls for obvious political
reasons. Government now thinks that these two diabolic targets have been
achieved hence there is no need keeping the trio. This is what governance in
Ghana has been reduced to. Sheer pettiness and vicious cycle of terminal
ineptitude.
Clearly things are not adding up in Ghana. Abuse of
power by the government and some State agencies, cancerous and petty
partisanship over our national interest, the culture of lawlessness and
impunity can all be said to be a vivid picture and perfect rendition of the
current happenings in Ghana. President Mahama should be reminded that power is
transient and that, he and his NDC wouldn't be in government forever. Again,
there is absolute truism in the biblical laws of karma. Posterity shall judge
our actions and observers like you and I can only be worried.
Thank you.
A concerned Ghanaian in the struggle
IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN
Youth Activist/Social Commentator
Former NUGS Secretary
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