It was after-noon, when I just touched down from a trip. Instead of resting, I made my way straight to the courtroom when court session was in progress. Right in front of the foyer, which interestingly overlooked the plinth, where Justice Afia Siriboe Asare-Botwe was seated and adjudicating. I was awed at the humongous supporters at the courtroom and beyond. It was indeed jammed-packed! as someone would have me say. My presence was instantaneously felt due to my late entry. A longtime friend, quickly, upon seeing me, rushed to give me a hug. Little did we know it caught the attention of the trial judge who made a short reprieve of the lawyers to interject ?you probably have missed this guy a lot to give him a hug in a courtroom??
Her statement did not only draw gazing eyes at us, but brought a respite of a usually tensed trial to a momentously humorous end as everybody started laughing including the opposing lawyers. I gave a derisive retort back; eyes fixed, a heavy scowl, a deep forlorn sigh and finally my best of smiles as if posing for a televised interview. It was my first supreme court experience and I felt being the hero with my not-too-deliberate ?maneuver ?of bringing relief to both sides , at the same time feeling a greater? sense of been addressed? My Lord? ?how powerful that address is?
That was just by the way, now let?s get serious. The on-going trial at the nation?s premiere court involving Hon.Abuga Pele, member of parliament for Chiana/ Paga constituency and an astute sports aficionado vs. the state for charges including misappropriation of public funds shows a mock trial of a kind as government through the AG? is dearth of enough evidence to summarily end the case. I have had on two occasions witnessed several contradicting statements from the so-called witnesses themselves. The clandestine attempt to adduce non-existing evidence against the Chiana-Paga NDC stalwart would definitely hit the doldrums.
But why Abuga Pele, ?Since he is is a putative doyen of contemporary politics in the north who has the magic wand to garner more votes for the NDC, considering his entanglements with the youth evident by his showmanship parliamentary comeback onslaught against the NPP, in the immediate past elections. I can?t escape that,it is, in part, majority of his votes that birthed the NDC? in the Upper East Region?
Could it be, he not jumping from one radio station to the other making highfalutin claims in support of government or appearing in soap opera TV interviews, by so doing, buying cheap popularity among the kith and kin of the party, as a lot of the party stratum is doing? Your guess is as good as mine.
It is unbeknownst to very few people that far-de-lances within the party echelon are furtivishly fanning the flames calling for his head since he was so puritanical in accepting and awarding contracts which had a bias outlook.
Has that just answered your mirabile dictum?? Why government would jettison such an invaluable sports asset for same he was appointed to manage the L.O.C in the build up to the 2009 AFCON held in Ghana. And later, GYEEDA for whom more modules were incorporated than any coordinator of GYEEDA on planetary earth and introduced a well-informed elaborate exit plan for beneficiaries and revitalized the old modules. For a man who has sacrificed his time and energy to public service from his hay days and an undisputed sine qua non of the ruling government and a ranking member of the committee on sports and an active soccer icon in parliament- the list goes on-and-on, to go through the pain and anguish of his selfsame sacrificial life bespeaks how we engender the politics of victimization in this country.
And heretofore, yours truly continued to be befuddled with why they so many names indicted in the 4 times waste-of ?resources- reports are still walking free. It?s an example that the criminal justice system is ad hoc in bearing traction of the so- called bourgeois coterie in the backward West Africa fledgling democracy. Why would the over 25 names and institutions be prune to zilch?. The cover up antics of our jurisprudence would continue in perpetuity if nothing drastic is done about it. We are gradually snail pacing our judicial fiefdoms to the yonder, comparatively with countries like Liberia, which hitherto looked up to us for judicial council.
The mammoth supporters that throng at each court session, is just a tip of the iceberg evincing his entire support base. This is a man who has provided for the sundry needs of these people within and without his constituency. The constituents of Navrongo, Bolgatanga, Sandema and elsewhere will be a testament to the so many people Hon.Abuga Pele has lend support and continuous to help even in this ?crisis situation?. No wonder a third of the courtroom is jammed-packed with his supporters and sympathizers.
The turn-around events of the renegade Nuhu Hamidan, the immediate former deputy national coordinator of GYEEDA, who unfortunately serve under Hon.Abuga Pele and now Metropolitan Chief Executive or is it Executrix (for want of a better synonym, which reason he did not get diddlysquat???-anyway) for Asokore Mampong, to refute claims of actually knowing the content of a purported docket before signing it tells in volumes the clandestine obscurity of the trial.
Listen my dear, this is a highly educated man oooh?.who can read and write, can decipher from write and wrong, not virtually impaired and thankfully has his compos mentis ?intact for same he was appointed to the flagship position of? deputy coordinator to have made this remarks smacks-off the idea of taking him? literally to class one ?and giving him a few flogs ,one after the other, on the bottom, for ?failing to grasp ?the innards of basic rudimental ?logic and 10 heavy knuckle snaps, ?for being a complete ?imp. He should thank the constitution for indemnifying such pretentious acts, otherwise, he would be lamenting in the deep abyss of the terrible Navrongo prisons.
And more recently,in testimony, Kofi Humado? who in this same fashion as Nuhum Hamidan(no wonder they both have their last names syllabically and rythimicaly pronounced same) whos brains size measures his average teen bedfellows who blatantly gave a tacit endorsement of a similar docket after signing a whopping 825 million gh cedis without recourse to the law cannot legally hands-off and extricate himself from the calculation
God is our time keeper and our judge. To this end, yours truly can only add that God is going to vindicate this innocent man. When I say innocent I am not prejudging the case pending in court but we are of the firm conviction he did no wrong and the end shall indeed justify the means in the on-going conundrum of a trial, considering his works as a true patriot and commitment to the course of his constituents and many other listless elements that makes him likeable. It is highly unlikely that this man will serve a jail sentence, to say the least. You can read my lips again ?it is highly unlikely that this man will serve a jail sentence?. Yes it is true the eyes of justice have not mercy for the good man, but I bet you justice this time around will speak for the silent hearted, abandoned and the good- willed.
And if this trial is done in quid-pro-quo for votes come 2016 election, as an effort to con Ghanaians as to the level of commitment to the course of fighting corruption, then, it is a failed trial right from its inception and will vindicate the less fortunate and lack of godfather- mindedness as seen as the basic elements of this trial.
The purposeless affectation of government to distance itself from corruption and corruption related issues by singling out individual with rather patently less corrupt intent against key players and criminally-minded so-called ?Big Fishes? who are now more privileged, per their new promotions, to plunder more, filch heavily and fleece opulently at the helm, would continue to cause more chagrin and uproar among party loyalist since it lacks the will to prosecute them, albeit. Sacrificing one to cleanse an afterthought will be cheap populist ideology and its perversity holds sway as far as this matter is concern. ?And sacrificing one also on the altar of ?SCAPEGOATCY? would be the vilest attrition our NDC is known to ever be pursuing, following the dismal grip on the economy in recent times mano-a-mano the upcoming general elections. The people of Paga and Chiana are so livid on this court issue.
In nuce ,though, in the forgoing cannot be statutory forensically and legally argued by any attorney of Harvard generation, to warrant ?sacerdotal judge Afia Siriboe Asare-Botwe to succinctly dismiss the on-going Abuga Pele vs. the State trial in the competent court of our ?judicature, as on merit. It ought to be maintained with conviction that the many silent voices that have being baying for this man for providing and buttering the bread on the tables of many a family, come the penultimate day of judgment, would walk away from this trial a Freeeeeee-man.
Woni Wesoamo
(02081493941)
Political Science Department
University of Ghana, legon.
