Sarpong, Justice
President Evans Atta Kakra Mills has created two laws in the country, one for NDC people where they have the right to insult and accuse others of crimes without any fear of being arrested and another one for his political opponents where an insult is a crime as we are witnessing in the Owusu Bempah's saga. Koku Anyidoho the President's spokesman can tell Ghanaians to “clean” their discolored and stinking” teeth and accuse others of bed-wetting and Atta Kakra Mills stood aloof, waved pompoms urging his spokesman on. People like Victor Smith, Fifi Kwetey, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, Kwabena Adjei and others who made wild allegations against ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor without evidence have been rewarded by President Mills for their baseless claims. We have not seen them being drilled by the BNI or the CID.
Atta Mills, our "ASOMDWEHENE" President is turning into a Dictator before our eyes and Ghanaians, especially those in position to nip this political hazard in the bud, NPP, Ghana Bar association, the cleric and other human rights groups have not taken this issue seriously. We went through this before when Rawlings was accused of torching his own house two years ago and Mills sent his goon squad to arrest a man who accused Rawlings of arson. It seems like we did not learn any lesson from that episode when the Police realised that there is no law in Ghana that makes libellous accusation a crime.
Let me sound a warning to those readers who jump into conclusions and accuse writers who care about our human rights and will stand up for even causes that are not popular and accuse the defenders of those people rights as supporters of criminals. So far Owusu Bempah has been kept incommunicado and we don't know whether he has any evidence for what he accused the first lady, Naadu of doing, accepting a 5 million Woyome dollars. If Owusu Bempah did this without any basis of truth, then he has to face the law and blame himself for any consequencies but arresting him for a case that is at best a civil matter is a travesty of justice. This is not the first time this loudmouth has said something outrageous. He accused Nana Akuffo Addo of causing the death of a woman through abortion and this was before the FONKAR and GAMES rivalry stupidities and Mills and his NDC palookas hailed him as a hero, at that time, they did not see any case of libel in Owusu Bempah's puerile and sophomoric lava flow of investives as libellous when the people at the receiving end of his profanity laced tirades were their political opponents. Now that the Frankenstein they created is about to devour them, they have arrested him and charged him with a crime that do not exist in our country.
The criminal libel law was repealed in July 2001 by NPP administration with Nana Akuffo Addo as the Attorney General and NDC should refrain from this pettifog nonsense and tackle the myriad of economic and social problems confronting the country instead of Mills using the security agencies to abuse his political opponents. Hvaing said that, People like Owusu Bempah like all NDC infantile politicians should not open their mouth and level or accuse people when they have no evidence to prove their case but this is not different from what Mills Presidential Aides have been accusing Nana Akuffo Addo of using drugs without any evidence and BNI or CID has not arrested any of them because slandering or libel is not a criminal offense that calls for arrest and imprisonment. It is up to Naadu to file a defamation civil case against Owusu Bempah. The government has no right to arrest people for insults. Insults though a moral shortcoming is not a crime but those who are defamed can seek redress in a civil court for monetary compensation and Naadu should do the same if she feels aggrieved by Bempah's malarkey's. Mills and his family like any politician in Ghana should have intestinal fortitude for people like Bempah, their own creation from dead body parts. Why is Owusu Bempah being kept from his lawyers, family and from the public view? Has he been beaten? What is his crime?
"The beleaguered Director of Operations of the Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR), Ernest Owusu Bempah, has been charged with publishing false news with intent to cause fear and panic." That is a charge of libel. How stupid are the Ghana Police CID? Where in Ghana law is libel a crime? This colonial law used to shut up agitators for independence was repealed in in 2001, thanks to Nana Akuffo Addo. If Mills and his politicized Police are not aware, the libel crime laws was repealed in 2001 and if they are not aware, they should go back to the 2001 Parliamentary proceedings of July or read this Daily Graphic report of July 30th 2001.
30 July 2001 Last updated at 00:00 Criminal libel law repealed By Daily Graphic
Parliament has unanimously repealed the Criminal Libel and Seditious Laws.
With the amendment, any prosecution instituted under any of the repealed sections, the proceedings of which are pending before any court or tribunal shall cease. According to the amendment, proceedings shall not be instituted in respect of any offence under any of those sections shall be deemed to have been discharged.
Debate on the issue, which lasted two days, was hectic, and although most of the MPs favoured the repeal of the law, others, particularly on the Minority side, however, asked the House to take a critical look at the issue. A memorandum on the bill presented to the House by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, stated, "the purpose of the bill is to fulfill the promise of repeal, and thereby demonstrate the Kufour government's determination to make good its promise to the nation". It said the repeal is evidence of the sincerity of the New Patriotic Party government's commitment to the process of democratic consolidation in the country.
The memorandum further stated that the repeal of these laws, which were enacted during the colonial period to frustrate the freedom of the people and perpetuate servitude, should have been done at the time the country gained independence.
It stated that, unfortunately such laws were maintained and, in some cases were even extended during the one-party state of the First Republic and have up to date remained in the statute books. The memorandum said these laws have come to symbolize authoritarian, anti-democratic impulses within Ghana's body politics which the media have been virtually and vociferously unanimous in demanding their repeal. According to the memorandum, such laws are unworthy of a society seeking to develop on democratic principles on the basis of transparency and accountability in public life. The repeal of the law was one of the major campaign promises of the NPP government during the run-up to the 2000 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
The repeal of the law has received general acclamation by the public, including media practioners. But observers believe that journalists would do themselves and the nation a lot of good, if they reciprocate the gesture through the practice of responsible journalism"
I don't want any NDC yahoo telling me Mills should not interfere with a case before the court. The Attorney General works at the pleasure of the President and it is Mills administration so he should confer with his appointee to drop this frivolous case out of court unless he wants to operate outside what the constitution mandates him to do. This adumbration of Mills rule is becoming stale and it is time Ghanaians demand from this hypocrite President to stop hiding behind his Christianity pontifications and sermonizations and do what is right.Caitiff and crapulous Mills should unveil his real self instead of his temporization of every issue.Mugwump Atta Mills should come out of his shell or his "AMALIA" hibernation and be the President he was voted to be.
"GHANAFUO ATO ABA BONEE"
Justice Sarpong
Houston, Texas
