“Even Ya-Na Won’t Be Happy THAT THE INNOCENT SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO NSAWAM AS KILLERS”- LAWYER ATTA AKYEA
Lead counsel for 15 suspects charged for the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani has reiterated the importance of government doing a thorough investigative work before appealing the Ya-Na murder case.
As things stand now, Lawyer Atta Akyea, who also is the Member of Parliament for Akyem Abuakwa South says, “we are not going to go far” with finding the killers of the overlord of Dagbon, “if we go on like this”.
Lawyer Atta Akyea was speaking on the big bite show on Xfm 95.1.
He says, “They should check their cases; any case which is politically motivated, which has not got a very solid legal ground, I am afraid, would fail no matter the judge you put there because the judge cannot improve the evidence for you if it is bogus.”
To him, playing what he calls ‘propaganda’ with the killers of the Ya-Na is only going to aggravate an already delicate matter and called for an extensive investigative work to bring the killers to book, stressing, “even Ya-Na would not be happy that the innocent should be brought to Nsawam as killers”.
“You will investigate and come out with accused persons; not guilty persons. When you bring them before the court of law, they are presumed innocent under article 19 of the constitution; you cannot do anything about that. So therefore, now prove that guilt by incredible evidence, because, the more heinous a crime, the higher the standard of prove. So you just cannot come out and say that I have arrested people I suppose are the killers; that the judge should rubberstamp it for you. It is not even done in hell; and Ya-Na would not be happy that the innocent should be brought to Nsawam as killers”.
Lawyer Atta Akyea adds that it is not strange that the NDC since coming into power has lost almost all of its major court cases because the NDC has constantly made political propaganda with those cases.
Describing recent agitations for the arrest and prosecution of some NPP officials as juvenile, Lawyer Atta Akyea opines, that so long as the judiciary remains an autonomous body, due process need to be followed in the arrest and prosecution of corrupt officials.
He says a pillar of government is about to fall “if they try to pollute the nation and vilify the judiciary”, adding that the judiciary “is an arm of government and not a ministry”.
With the pressure on government to find the killers of the Ya-Na against the backdrop of accusations that the courts are packed with NPP-biased judges, Lawyer Atta Akyea is accusing the NDC of being guilty of the exact thing they are accusing the NPP of- judicial manipulation.
“If they expect the judiciary to do the bidding of the NDC, then they are interested in judicial manipulation, the very thing they are accusing the NPP of. So therefore, when you to court and you lose, please respect the rule of law; your recourse is to appeal”.
Story by Abena Asiedua Tenkorang/ Xfm 95.1/ Accra/ Ghana
