CDD Press Release

CDD-GHANA STATEMENT ON THE REACTIONS TO THE HIGH COURT

RULING IN YA-NA MURDER TRIAL.

The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana)

expresses its grave concern over reactions in certain quarters to the

recent decision of the High Court in Accra in respect of the trial of

certain individuals for their alleged complicity in the 2002 murder of

the Ya-Na.

CDD-Ghana would like to register its deepest sympathy with the elders

and people of Dagbon for the tragic and criminal murder of their King.

That the perpetrators and abettors of this heinous act remain at large

nearly a decade after the fact is damaging to prospects for peace,

stability and development in Dagbon in particular and the nation at

large. We therefore share with the elders and people of Dagbon their

collective frustration and disappointment over the apparent failure of

the State authorities to marshal the necessary investigative resources

to help bring due closure to this case.

CDD-Ghana is deeply concerned that the legitimate expectation of the

people of Dagbon for justice and closure in a matter as grave as this

has been seized upon by politicians to further their own narrow and

self-interested agendas to the detriment of peace and unity in Dagbon.

Instead of providing professional investigators and prosecutors with

the resources and support necessary to get to the bottom of this case

in a systematic fashion, our politicians have chosen to add partisan

fuel to an already tense and divisive situation.

We are especially appalled by the reactions of elements of the ruling

NDC as well as the opposition NPP to the recent verdict rendered by

the High Court in Accra. While politicians, like all other citizens, are 2

free to comment on decisions of the courts, it crosses the line of

appropriate and responsible commentary and subverts our young

constitutional order for politicians and others who should know better

to examine a judicial verdict simply and purely through narrow

partisan political lenses, all with a view to exploiting the verdict for

maximum partisan advantage. It is worse still when political and civic

leaders proceed to make comments that seek to destroy public faith in

our judges and judicial system and to mobilize factional and partisan

anger and frustration against judges who discharge their lawful duties

in the courts of law.

It is particularly irresponsible for politicians and civic leaders to

reinforce the popular misconception that the State’s case in a trial is

always foolproof and, therefore, that the State must prevail in every

case, or even in most of the cases, it brings before the courts of law.

The courts of Ghana are not the judicial wing of the NDC or the NPP;

they are established under the Constitution as independent arbiters of

legal disputes and are duty-bound to dispense justice based solely on

the facts and the evidence, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will

toward one or the other party involved in the dispute. It is therefore

gravely troubling for politicians to give the impression that the courts

exist to do the bidding of one or the other political party. It is indeed

offensive to the integrity of our judicial system and a threat to the

security and independence of our judges for politicians to openly

politicize matters that properly lie in the province of prosecutors and

the courts and, then, turn around and place the burden of the blame

and disappointment on judges when the outcomes of those cases do

not meet with their partisan approval.

Our system of justice offers litigants who are aggrieved by an adverse

decision of a trial court the opportunity to exercise their right to

appeal the judgment to a higher court. Short of exercising that right3

and allowing the due process of law to take its course, we deem it

highly inappropriate and damaging to the Rule of Law and the peace of

our nation for politicians to incite partisan passions for or against a

judge who has sat in judgment over a case.

We are compelled to remind our politicians that Ghana does not belong

to the NPP or the NDC. All of us, without regard to party, have an

equal stake in the peace, progress and development of this nation. We

therefore entreat Ghanaians, and especially the citizens of Dagbon, to

reject the misguided attempts by certain extreme elements in both the

NDC and the NPP to politicize the search for justice in the Ya-Na case.

We also appeal to social and political commentators as well as

journalists to be circumspect in their comments on the judiciary and

allow the due process of law to take its course.

CDD-Ghana calls on the Council of State, the National House of Chiefs,

and all civil society groups to rise to the occasion and call our

politicians to order before they imperil the stability and peace of our

nation or destroy the institution of the judiciary. We also urge the

Constitution Review Commission to give serious consideration to the

idea of depoliticizing the investigation and prosecution of criminal

cases by recommending, in its final proposals, that the prosecutorial

function in Ghana be assigned to a constitutionally-independent Office

of Prosecution, instead of a politician Attorney-General. We have come

too far along the path toward democratic and constitutional

consolidation to allow our progress to be set back by the undue

politicization of the rule of law.

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