IDDI MUHAYU-DEEN’S FOLDER
I have learnt
with utter shock and obfuscation, news of a “presidential remission” granted to
the three convicted criminals of muntie shame by His Excellency President John
Mahama, apparently, as a culmination of the pressure mounted on him by his
party folks. I sincerely hope and pray that this news turns out to be inexact
and untrue else, it could erode all the democratic gains we have made as a
country and a betrayal of the legendary sacrifices of our forebears; many of
whom lost their lives in the struggle to ensure constitutional order and rule
of law in our country. Indeed, Monday, August 22, which happens to be the day,
the said purported pardon was granted, will surely be remembered as arguably,
the darkest day in the annals of history relative to our democratization
regime. And ultimately, President Mahama would forever be remembered as the
president that has sacrificed the supreme interest of the nation by endorsing
lawlessness and impunity in order to satisfy his party (NDC) foot-soldiers and
apparatchiks. What a dangerous precedence that is!
Before I
proceed to deal with the moral bankruptcy of the president’s action, let me
quickly deal with some legal issues and point out the unconstitutionality
therefrom. I may not be a lawyer as of yet, which is indeed the case, but I am
old and savvy enough to know that law and commonsense or morality are
inextricably linked and as a matter of fact, that is a basic criterion of a
good law. I learnt this in my Social Studies lesson (characteristic of a good
law) when I was in JHS and I guess you have learnt same too. Besides, as a
fresh graduate, I can also read and appreciate explicit and unambiguous provisions
or sentences in our law books which are written in English language even though
I didn’t read English or Political Science at the University. The President
claims to derive his powers from Article 72, which talks about “Prerogative of
Mercy” which can be exercised by the president to, inter alia, persons who have been convicted by the court
or found to have been guilty of an offence and slapped with the necessary
reprimand.
This Article
should NOT be misinterpreted or misconstrued to mean that the Constitution has
vested in the President, the power to REVIEW the decision of the court by
reposing in him, an APPELLATE JURISDICTION. Indeed, Article 125 (3) states
clearly that, “The Judicial Power of Ghana shall be vested in the Judiciary of
Ghana, accordingly, neither the President nor Parliament nor any organization
or agency of the President or Parliament shall have or be given judicial
power”. Again, Article 296 of the Constitution categorically states that,
“where in this constitution or in any other law discretionary power [in this
case Article 72] is vested in any person or authority – (a) that discretionary
power shall [my emphasis] be deemed to imply a duty to be fair and candid; (b)
the exercise of the discretionary power shall not be arbitrary, capricious or
biased [my emphasis] whether by resentment, prejudice or personal dislike and
shall be in accordance with due process of law….”
In fact, the
crime of CONTEMPT is so serious …to the extent that the Prisons Act, precisely,
Section 34 (d) clearly FORBIDS the grant of pardon to prisoners who were
convicted of contempt of court. It is again instructive to make the point that
unlike every other case we have experienced in this country, where we have the
Republic Versus Mr. A or B, this particular case is a unique one and almost
unprecedented, because the court has had to invoke its own inherent
jurisdictional power to convict the trio of contempt. In the light of this,
anytime attempt by whosoever and for whatever reason, political or otherwise,
to water-down or render nugatory, the court’s decision, will be tantamount to
undermining the very principle that underpins our judicial system and
subjecting the powers of the court to public opprobrium. Simpliciter!
Now, let’s
analyze whether the President has duly followed Article 296 above in the
exercise of his discretionary power (ie Article 72) in respect of the muntie 3,
who of course, happen to be his party supporters. The narrative is that these
guys, Salifu Maase (alias Mugabe), Godwin Ako Gunn and Alistair Nelson were on
July 27, sentenced to jail by the nation’s Supreme Court after they themselves
admitted that they had committed a criminal offense by scandalizing the court
and bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. They were thus CONVICTED
BASED ON THEIR OWN PLEAS and nothing more, nothing less. I am not sure they
were expecting the judges to clap for them when they openly accepted that they
were GUILTY and put no defense. In fact, per the provisions in our
constitution, the judges could have jailed them for 36 months (ie 3 years) but
decided to show compassion and gave them ONLY 4 months. So the judges were
compassionate after all; yet, we are being told by our NDC friends that the
sentence (4 out of 36 months) was too harsh and capricious.
They (our NDC
friends) immediately started SPIRITED AGITATIONS calling on the president to
free them when they (the convicted trio) had not even started serving their
prison terms. Their grounds were that, the sentence was too harsh; the trio had
shown remorse in court and apologized for their offense; they’ve learnt their
lessons; they’ve reformed among other ridiculous reasons. How can you determine
that the guys have reformed when they had not even spent 0.000000001% of their
prison terms? Obviously, prisoner reformation has been given a futuristic
effect…only in the lexicon of the NDC. A classic case of putting the cat before
the horse, which won’t resonate with any reasonable mind. In the nutshell, the
lack of candor and finesse with which this whole free muntie campaign was
conducted makes me sick and to think that some Ministers of State were actively
involved in this dangerous orchestration, worsens my predicaments.
Questions:
were the muntie gangs the only Ghanaians that appeared before court and
apologized for their wrongdoing during trial? Were they the only Ghanaians that
were ever jailed for contempt? In fact, in their case, they were lucky to have
been taken through full trial and due process because as we speak, there are
thousands of REMAND PRISONERS who are languishing in our prisons against their
fundamental rights? They also claim, in their petition to President Mahama that
they have families to take of. Are they the only prisoners that have families
to take care of? Those lawyers who took the petition to the President have no
shame at all. You were hired to defend your clients in court, you couldn’t do
that and lost the case miserably, the court sentences them, then you pass
through the backdoor to have that decision overturned by the President simply
because you all belong to the same party. How funny could this narrative be!
Obviously, another dangerous precedence that is being set in our jurisprudence.
The president
says, he grants them the pardon/remission on compassionate ground. Like
seriously? Throughout history,
compassion is used to grant pardon to prisoners on grounds of ill-health,
ageing, sustained good conduct that is observed over time, or some
extraordinary reasons. The president should tell Ghanaians which particular category
these muntie trio fall under, to be deserving of compassion. So the president
can show compassion to the muntie trio, but can’t show compassion to the
thousands of remand prisoners, who have not been tried nor pronounced guilty,
but are being kept in our prisons for several years against their fundamental
right. The president can show compassion to the muntie 3, who threaten to rape
and kill our judges, but he cannot show compassion on the gentleman who
threaten to kill him (the president) and was jailed for 10 years. Perhaps, the
lives of our judges don’t matter. Again, the president can show compassion on
the muntie gangs, but cannot show compassion to the innocent head porter
(Kayeye) who was jailed 10 years for carrying someone’s load which contained
marijuana. The examples are interminable. I ask, what is so special about these
3 muntie gangsters?
The only
inevitable answer that comes to mind is that they are NDC foot soldiers, who
were working for the president. In fact, one of them (Mugabe) is on record to
have said on muntie fm that he left his family in the UK to come and work for President
Mahama (obviously, to do the president’s dirty work on muntie fm). This claim,
has still not been denied by the presidency; the gentleman in question, finds
himself at the wrong side of the law, then the president comes in and overturns
the court’s verdict in order to free him. How smart could that be! From the
foregoing, it would be absolutely nonsensical and unconscionable for anyone to
conclude that the president’s decision to free the muntie trio was not
arbitrary, unfair, biased, capricious and driven by political consideration
rather than the national interest. And this, of course, violates both the
letter and spirit of Article 296 of the constitution.
In
conclusion, the president’s action to pardon the infamous muntio trio is most
likely going to breed lawlessness and impunity. It also undermines the
authority of the court and render their decision, nugatory. By this dangerous
precedence, party foot soldiers and apparatchiks would be emboldened to act
lawlessnessly and commit all forms of atrocities once their party is in
government, knowing very well that they would be freed even if the court
sentences them. This is what President John Mahama wants to be remembered for.
If almighty Supreme Court judges including the CJ herself, could be threatened
with rape and murder by these NDC foot soldiers with impunity, then I can only
imagine what can happen to me, the son of an ordinary wakye (rice and beans)
seller based in Bolgatanga. You, the reader should also imagine what could
happen to you, since we now live in a banana republic or the proverbial jungle.
Maybe, I
should inform you that I was recently threatened by a gentleman who describes
himself as a former TEIN President, which is the tertiary student wing of NDC because
he claims that I’m being very critical of his government with my usual
write-ups (folders). I have no option but to keep that to myself because I know
I am vulnerable, emasculate, powerless and cannot find justice anywhere in this
country. Sorry, I’ve had to shed tears whilst writing this piece. Our country
is sick and bleeding profusely. I therefore call on the youth to rise up and be
counted through revolution of the conscience. We surely need a new paradigm and
if that means, a REGIME CHANGE, then so be it. We need to restore our moral
fibre and get back to the good old days, where Ghana was seen as the beacon of
hope and bastion of democracy on the continent. What we need is RULE OF LAW,
which is the underpinning of every democratic society and not RULE OF MEN,
which breeds lawlessness, ‘foot-soldierism’, impunity and retrogression. Ghana
must not die. We can’t afford to fail our generation and the unborn. To this
end, I invite you to join me in the #mutashi movement together with a number of
celebrities who have launched a strong campaign for the redemption of our
country.
Assalamu
alaikum
This
piece was compiled by a concerned Ghanaian democrat in the business of
OCCUPYING HEARTS and MINDS for the love of God and country.
IDDI
MUHAYU-DEEN
Youth
Activist/Social Commentator
Former
NUGS Secretary
(0245335197)
Please,
it is shareable…..
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