by TonyPM
Last year, my cousin went to Ghana from the US to visit his wife and kids. Within a week of his arrival, armed robbers decided to pay him a visit at his home. They killed him. Following that, we had a "funeral" for him in Maryland. I noticed in a video of his funeral in Ghana shown at the funeral in Maryland, that there were no family members from my side. When I asked why that was, I was told that they refused to come to the funeral. Upon further inquiry, I got the story.
The dead man's wife's sister went to Ghana for the funeral. The timing of the funeral in Ghana was set around the arrival of this sister from Maryland. The dead man's brother was expecting their niece to arrive from Germany. The set time was not convenient for the niece from Germany and they couldn't resolve this issue so the dead man's brother went to court to obtain papers to bar the mortuary from releasing the body to the wife's family. The wife's sister told me that they got a tip so they went to the mortuary at 5:00 in the morning to claim the body. Therein lays Ghana's problems. All that you need to circumvent the law is to get there earlier and you are home free.
There are many examples that make mockery of Ghana's laws and what is being exhibited by our Supreme Court is no less an example. In our claim to democracy, we proudly claim to emulate the democracies of the West, especially the United States. The United States ironically offers the very example that makes what's going on in our Supreme Court with regards to the December 2012 election laughable.
On November 7, 2000, the US election hit a snag in Florida when George Bush and Al Gore had just over 300 votes separating them. On December 12, 2000, the US Supreme Court had made a decision that essentially declared a winner in the election well before the January 20, 2001 inauguration. In less than a month and one week, there had not only been a US Supreme Court decision that put the whole election issue to rest, there had been hearings and decisions made between the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court and other local courts.
Here we are going into April; having had an election in December and a decision made with over 300,000 votes (not 300) separating the winner and the looser and a President sworn in and all we see is a Supreme Court parading around in their robes and looking ridiculous in their wigs; so proudly calling themselves the Supreme Court without giving thought to what the charade they are putting the country through has potentially serious consequences for the country.
If Nana Akufo Addo was indeed aggrieved and he actually won the election, then the court should find for him. This means the country possibly has to determine if he is going to be President for a full Four-Year term or short change him. The longer this decision takes, the more this question becomes valid because if say they make such decision in December 2013 or December 2014, (and nothing we have seen so far says this couldn't happen) does Nana Akufo Addo serve a 3 or 2 year term or does he serve a whole 4 year term and have the next election bumped down a year or two down the road. Beside the question of how long Nana Akufo Addo will serve if he is truly the winner, there is the potential of chaos that could possibly cost some people their lives.
If in fact the law suit is valid, then I would think that the Supreme Court won't know who the winner is until due consideration is given to the evidence in which case it is fare to say that the Supreme Court itself does not know at this time if Nana Addo is indeed the winner. With the serious implications for the country, why should they take their own sweet time while the country waits? There comes a time when there is a national emergency and everything else should take a back seat to everything else. A "Sunday Supreme Court decision" is not unheard of. Our Supreme Court can summon all parties involved to court everyday of the week if they so choose except the President whose duties to the country may make it impossible for him to be in court at the whim of the Supreme Court, but the President has lawyers representing him and I believe court proceedings can go on without him appearing in court daily. I am also sure that the President will honor the court's demands as much as his duties allow him to.
Are we going to have laws that are practical and work in Ghana or are we going to have lawlessness led by our Supreme Court
Tony Pobee-Mensah
