This merry-go-round by political parties when they get into would have been funny, if it were not so sad.
When President Mahama caused the release of the Montie 3 in August 2016, the NPP screamed foul. According to the Head of the NPP Communications, Nana Akomea, (22 August 2016), the President had set a “bad precedent”. Another NPP stalwart, (Now a member of the Council of State) Mr. Sam Okudzeto described the Montie 3 as “rascals” who should not have been set free and that it was “nonsensical” of the then Council of State to have advised the then President to set them free.
For many supporters of the NDC, (at least in Accra), the Montie 3 were heroes; and they celebrated their release with a rousing welcome party. Even when Tony Lithur, who had defended the NDC in the Supreme Court case in 2013 advised against their release, he was pilloried by some NDC people who accused him of only talking “big English”.
Now, that “bad precedent”, aptly echoed by Akomea, has been duly followed by his party now in power. The NPP Attorney-General has refused to prosecute the Delta Force 8 who were said to have aided the escape of 13 of their members from court recently. According to press reports, the Attorney-General says there is no evidence to prosecute them.
And surprise, surprise!!! The NDC is crying foul. The same Mr. Abraham Amaliba, , who in August 2016 argued vehemently that then President John Mahama did nothing wrong by remitting the remainder of the four-month jail term being served by the Montie 3, is now crying foul. He is reported to stated that the decision not to prosecute is “unreasonable”, “unfortunate and unbelievable”. Mr. Amaliba is reported to stated that “The Attorney General cannot see herself prosecuting them and so clearly this has more to do with using party affiliation to discontinue the matter. It has nothing to do with the lack of evidence. ”
Then enters the NDC MPs in Parliament. They also say that the Attorney-General’s decision not to prosecute is “abuse of discretion, it is capricious and it is an abuse of due process”. They argue that the “discretion of the Attorney-General has been “obviously exercised for narrow political expediency”.
Oh, doesn’t it hurt, when you find the boot on the other foot?
You see!! Someone should tell our politicians that before they take such partisan decisions, they should first ask themselves this question: “How will it look like?” It is not always enough to wrap oneself in the law and say “it is legal”. Yes it may be legal but how does it look like?
When President Mahama took the decision to free the Montie 3, it was purely legal, wasn’t it? And yet how did it look like? And when the Attorney-General under the NPP exercised her discretion to free the Delta Force 8 it is also legal, isn’t it?
Next time, let’s learn that we will not be in power for ever.
Kwasi Adu
(He was part of the PNDC days. He worked with the likes of Zaya Yebo, Akatapore, Tsikata, etc.
Adu was devoted to duty to kick the corrupt Kufuor administration out of power. He was a founding member of the Committee for Joint Action. If fact the convener. He was a member of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, member Free Cuban 5 Ghana collective, Coalition Against Water Privatisation, Pan-Islamic Congress and many other vociferous mass group and public manifestations. Adu was also a supervising editor of The Insight newspaper.)
