Tsatsu Tsikata Overcoming his Enemies.

In my previous articles (refer to www.ghanaweb.com “Tsatsu Tsikata Deserves Justice” Feature Article of Sunday, 27 July 2008 and “Tsatsu Tsikata and his faceless adversaries” Feature Article of Sunday, 22 August 2010), one was at pains to comprehend why Tsatsu Tsikata, a fine, soft spoken gentleman and legal guru of his generation would be subjected to vile and shameless character assassination by some of his own country women and men.

It is even more ironic and mind boggling that people in position of authority, trusted to uphold the constitution, defend and protect individuals rights, especially the judiciary who are crying fowl of accusation of corruption levelled against it recently, is seen to have had colluded or still colluding to destroy Tsikata at all cost and by any means necessary.

Those of us who have followed and continue to follow the vilification and character assassination of Tsatsu by some heartless individuals or group of individuals in both his court case which he was jailed for 5 years; and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) orchestrated Due Diligence Review exercise of the $5m MODEC-StratOil deal.; were and are still convinced of Tsatsu’s innocence in all these matters of public interest.

My position in the defence of Tsatsu on the above issues has been eloquently put in my previous two articles referred to above. Confidently, I predicted in my last article that he will defeat his adversaries one day; therefore one cannot but be delighted that the enemies case against him is unravelling. Tsatsu’s first victory which has been wildly reported in the media is the due diligence case by the lFC, the World Bank private sector lending arm that raised red flags over a $5m service contract between MODEC and Strategic Oil and Gas Resources Limited (StratOil), has shun his enemies including the likes of Hon. K. T. Hammond and other faceless individuals or powers that be. Such people conspired and continue to conspire against Tsatsu and any interest or company that he has been or is involved with.

The second victory for Tsatsu and justice that Ghanaians are eagerly awaiting for and; which will surely happen and completely torpedo the conspiracy strategy of his foes is his appeal case at the Supreme Court.

As readers will recall Tsatsu was jailed on June 18, 2008 two weeks before the Supreme Court was due to rule on an appeal he had, to get the IFC to testify in his trial, with evidence he had adduced as part of his defence. The IFC had earlier in the course of the trial refused to testify at the High Court as a court witness, with the flimsy excuse that it had immunity from Ghana’s judiciary processes. However, the Appeal Court in reference to the immunity provision of the IFC upheld its decision back in 2006, following which the case went to the Supreme Court, the highest Court of the land.

In January 19, 2011 the Supreme Court eventually ruled on the case, declaring that the IFC had no immunity, which meant to any right thinking person that Tsatsu was denied the opportunity to exhaust his defence before he was sadly and regrettably jailed by Mrs Justice Henrietta Abban the then trial Judge. Mrs Abban in my view abused her position and powers and trampled upon the fundamental human rights of Tsatsu Tsikata to a fair trial. And this could arguably amount to some of the alleged corrupt practices of the Judiciary. The family, friends and others who supported and still continue to support Tsatsu on the matters discussed in this article, had absolute trust and faith in justice and God and never doubted that the end game of Tsatsu’s adversaries was near. In all his trials and tribulations, one thing that many Ghanaians will admire Tsatsu for apart from his bravery, is his gentleness, meekness’ and humility in the face of all that he had and continue to suffer from his ruthless enemies. Any other person would have cracked under such a sustained and vicious attempts or campaign by his shameless but determined enemies not only to assassinate his character but to criminalise him

The one and only thing that those who believe and have faith in Tsatsu would urge of him to do, is to find some where in his heart to forgive his enemies and dedicate any victory or all victories to all the victims of miscarriages of justice and injustice. In so doing he will probably be putting a close to the final chapter of overcoming his enemies.

David Atugiya

The author is a Human Rights and Social Justice Campaigner, Finance and Management Consultant; Specialist in NGO and Millennium Awards Fellow.