GBA Can Go Burn The Sea

By Nana Kow Blankson

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA), an appendage of the looting NPP brigade, has never done anything credible to raise their faltering image or contribute towards the overall development of the country. Therefore, anytime you see the GBA issuing any bogus statement on any national issue you can bet without blinking an eye where the interest of the GBA lies.

The GBA seems to have nothing else to do apart from always issuing silly nonsensical and spurious statements to support any shameful acts or omissions by the NPP of which most of them are all card bearing members.

I was therefore, not surprised the least when the GBA issued a statement warning the government about the potential legal ramifications in the contentious sale of a state land to Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, National Chairman of the NPP. If Obetsebi Lamptey feels that the government erred in re-acquiring the No 2 Mungo Street bungalow which he once lived in and dubiously bought, all he needs to do is to head to court. I never knew the GBA is now acting as the lawyers of Jake Obetsebi Lamptey.

If a government property has been Nicodemously sold to Obetsebi Lamptey without others being given the chance to bid for it, and the government as a matter of principle and in the larger interest of the public has re-acquired the property, why is the GBA warning the government against potential legal consequences? Is the GBA going to take the government to court on behalf of Jake Obetsebi Lamptey? And why is the GBA attempting to fight Obetsebi Lamptey’s battle for him? In any case is Obetsebi Lamptey a member of the GBA?

I sometimes feel sorry for the GBA, an organization that refused to take part in the drafting of the country’s Constitution, yet do not feel ashamed to quote extensively from the Constitution when they so wish. When the 258-member National Consultative Assembly was formed in Ghana to draft the 4th Republic Constitution, the GBA refused to join because they claim the PNDC government did not allow many of their members to join the National Consultative Assembly hence their decision to boycott the process. Yet, today with the Constitution in place, the GBA members do not feel ashamed to quote from the Constitution.

There are so many better issues going on in this country, and therefore, I find it very funny that of all the issues of the day the GBA will waste time and paper and issue a bogus statement warning the government on one of their “members”. If the GBA is not morally bankrupt, it should have been the first organization to have advised Obetsebi Lamptey to back off from such a shameful deal or even condemned the deal which lacked transparency.

But the GBA has rushed to the defense of Obetsebi Lamptey because some of the members of the GBA also benefitted from the looting of the state lands under Kufuor’s regime, hence their decision to warn the government for fear that the government may expose them too. Do you remember the story about the old lady feeling uncomfortable when dry bones are mentioned in a conversation?

How many innocent citizens are languishing in jail for crimes they did not commit. Has the GBA made any effort to put in place a comprehensive program to help in defending and securing the release of some of these innocent citizens in jail free of charge? All that the GBA love to do is to clothe themselves in suits and rather take money from citizens seeking for justice, but keep postponing their cases at each court sitting just to take more money from these poor citizens.

If there is any institution that has no credibility in the eyes of Ghanaians and has been labeled as a political institution, it is the GBA. Just meet a roomful of GBA members and engage them in the political issues of the day and you will be amazed that almost 99% belongs to the NPP. Therefore, if the GBA issues a statement you do not need to be a sage to smell rat.

If you are elected head of an organization, I believe you need to do something that you will be remembered for when you are long gone. Therefore, I am surprised that the GBA National President, Frank W.K. Beechem, is not doing anything to uplift the image of the GBA but has also joined the ranks of the former presidents of the GBA in just issuing statements that do not add anything credible to the political and economic table of the country.

Not many people in the country today respect lawyers and to a large extent the GBA. People consider them as looters and not builders. They have no respect at all, and if people address them as “learned friends” when they see them, the same people say terrible things behind them when they leave. Of course we have some good lawyers but most of them have no credibility at all, that is why a whole organization like the GBA will support Jake in such a despicable act.

nkowblankson@yahoo.com