Blame the law, not the verdict

Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has reacted to assertions by leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the effect that the decision of the court in handling sentences to key players in the controversial “Cotton” Quality Grain was political. He stated that the NDC is not being fair to themselves and the democratic process all the parties are striving to build.

Nyaho-Tamakloe was speaking to the Chronicle newspaper in a telephone chat on May Day. He also described the intended demonstration by top gurus and cadres in the NDC in protest against the rulings as “bizarre and a strange political act likely to make a boomerang effect on a party already in the throes of death.”

He observed that one good thing the Parliament of 1993 did for this country, for all its faults, was to pass that law against “causing financial loss to the state” for the simple reason that it is in line with the principles of probity and accountability. “I definitely would like the law to stay as it is.

People who offer themselves for public service must be diligent in taking good care of public money, property and interests. Misuse of public property is a serious offence” waxing philosophical, he opined. “There is something in law called “vicarious liability” which directly or indirectly means public office holders responsible for any losses incurred negligently or otherwise.

What the NDC must come to terms with, and get clear about, is that it is the courts that interpret the law and not the politicians. Politicians make the law, but it is the courts, which interpret them,” he stressed.