When anti-corruption meets corruption on narcotics

The scripture says Seest thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before Kings. But what if the King is behind Uriah’s murder and responsible for Uriah’s wife’s pregnancy? Mr. Kissi Agyebeng may have out-performed his role as an anti-corruption lawyer to a fault. He caught the eye of the King- the Mother Serpent of Corruption. But why? The Serpent needed to create a charade that he did not exist as a serpent. Alas, he does exist. Hitherto, anti-corruption agents and agencies were empowered by the state to execute their duties without unnecessary encumbrances. In the days of the mother serpent, corruption is now scarier than deserving. To openly wage war against corruption in Ghana is to choose to go to battle without breastplates, facing a narcotics enhanced enemy.

The audit guru, Mr. Daniel Domelevo warned that corruption would always give you a run for your money by fighting back through foul and foul means. Perhaps Mr. Agyebeng took cue and requested enhanced protection in the form bulletproof vehicles. Obviously being weary of the mischievous elements we destined his Office to go after. “Yaanom” declined and rather sought to publicly ridicule him for profligacy. Corruption just blew a puff of Marijuana in public space. Across the street is Madam Jean Mensa. The fair play referee of our elections is in an iron-clad protection by none other than Ghana’s renowned military. Her protection regimen is only akin to a military leader’s security ring.

Against whom and from whom? It is only when a game’s officiating goes seriously awry that disgruntled spectators seek equity from the referee. At what point did Jane Mensa, a neutral arbiter of democratic elections need such military-grade protection. Would it fair (within the limits of reasoning) to conjecture that this show of muscle is an insignia of premeditated upcoming electoral mis-officiating? Sequel to the EC changing presidential election results five (5) times in 2020; it appears every single step towards the 2024 general elections became a vexatious misstep with indifference and impunity never witnessed before in the 4th republic. There you go; corruption just took a deep vein shot of Fentanyl.

When the venerable Martin A B Amidu related his lost battle with mother and baby serpents at the OSP, we huffed, puffed, blew hot air and went back to sleep wishing the problem will self-annihilate. We have gone past 7.5yrs now and not even a tsetse fly has been convicted of corruption. Does it mean our public service space is full of non-corrupt righteous players? Total balderdash! It is that our own version of corruption is high on non-medicinal Tramadol.

Exploiting the weaknesses and so-called technicalities of the law, we expedited the return of Cecilia A Dapaah’s unconvincingly explained wealth. As found in a related article Beasts of No Nation, and recounting the efforts of the OSP, it is heartbreaking to see fellow Ghanaians, whose taxes were either stolen or misappropriated jubilate when corruption suspects aided by “the technicalities of the law” hop away from being held accountable. In fact, the OSP and the act that established it (Act 959) have become a waste pipe of scarce national resources. Corruption just smiled upon the legalization of recreational marijuana for mass intoxication.

As if there are no laws, the framers of our laws perhaps erroneously assumed only men of a certain mold would occupy the chief executive position of the law. Alas, they were woefully wrong. Today, that unsophisticated, one-dimensional, and simple trust thinking has become a malignant tumor and an albatross around the nation’s neck!

The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), an adventure literary classic by Alexandre Dumas dwells on retribution for injustice perpetrated by no mean person than the Attorney General of France. It was the injustice of maliciously incriminating and imprisoning an innocent person by falsifying evidence and witness. That is Corruption acquiring arable land to cultivate Industrial Hemp.

Ghana’s legal space has attracted public opinion traffic for very wrong reasons. Mr. R Jakpa threatened in open court and under oath, and finally opened the Pandora box. In the box, we found a 16-min recorded conversation between Mr. Jakpa and our Attorney General, Mr. Godfred Dame in what appears to be a meeting to influence the course of court proceedings in a certain premeditated direction. A direction that would have made it nearly impossible for the target, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson to free himself from the grips of corruption in a corruption trial. It appears Corruption is now exploring the potency of Synthetic Cocaine.

That the Attorney General did not denounce any of Mr. Jakpa’s statements of stress and coercion to condone and connive are a few of a plethora of startling revelations in the tape. The AG’s initial denial of any private engagements with Mr. Jakpa, of coincidentally sighting Mr. Jakpa in the house of a sitting Supreme Court judge, and finally, seeking refuge in the ambits of Plea Bargaining further perforates and shreds any fabric of public trust in our AG. Of coincidentally sighting Mr. Jakpa, shall we then say the Supreme Court judge set up our AG? For what? Is it on record that the AG protested by walking away in order not to implicate himself? Would the Supreme Court judge also plead coincidence? Corruption just took a stroll to buy Codeine-laced paracetamol on the black market.

Furthermore, it is quite remarkable how the NPP becomes the mouthpiece of the AG, presenting a lamentable lame duck defense of the AG while the Office of the AG is duly furnished with a deputy AG and a spokesperson all paid from the “protected” public purse. While the deputy AG shamefully downplays the gravity of the revelations, the NPP could only tell us the tape was doctored with no backing evidence to it. Corruption just co-opted all secondary users of opiates. The flimsy excuse that the AG had established a prima facie and so was comfortably arriving at a conviction is untenable. All cases lost by prosecution would have initially passed a prima facie test, so the AG establishing a prima facie does not necessarily mean he is at arm’s length from a conviction.

Albeit convoluted, the evolution of this Ambulance trial is one that the public in Ghana is keenly interested in. It is obvious the optics are not in favour of the AG. For starters, and for the sanctity of our democracy, it suffices for the President to do the needful by asking the AG to step aside and allow an independent probe into events surrounding AG’s leaked tape. A tape that suggests influence peddling, connivance, manipulation and intimidation. Finally, the vanguards of our still developing democracy need to understand that democracy is a philosophy and an organism that feeds on public trust. A trust that leadership will give proper account of themselves and their offices. These actions and inactions contradict our collective narrative on the promise of democracy.

My dear reader, if after one month we wake up with Godfred Dame still at post like Ofori Atta lingered, then know for sure that this is life in Ayatollah’s Theocratic Ghana. Whatever narcotic drug that is, your guess is as good as mine is. I rest my pen.

BY DAVID ZEKPAH,
Executive Director,
The 1957 Group.