Kpegah`s timorous letter to Kofi Coomson over Togbe Afede (part 2)

26
. I must emphasis that I am a detribalized individual and do not care when Voltarians are referred to as "Ghanaians by plebiscite" by our brothers and sisters from other tribes. Ashantis, for example, are among my most trusted friends; the late Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II was my personal friend so also was his son Nana Adusei Poku, the Akyempimhene and Oheneba Arnold Prempeh, son of the late Sir Osei Agyemang- Prempeh II. Others like Nana Akwasi Agyemang and Rt. Rev. Archbishop T.K. Mensah of Kumasi come to complete the list.

27.
I think I have to explain to you personally, your "secret mentors" and the reading public why the Volta Region has become the bastion of the N.D. C (World Bank) and the danger in your mentors taking this for granted and hoping that they can continue to freely target Voltarians for systematic elimination as they did under the regime of Ex-President Rawlings which we felt could protect us. They must have an enormous capacity for self-deception if they feel they can do so this time; it will be at the risk of support for the N.D.C, the party they claim to love so much. 28.

We Ewes are fully aware that we are a minority tribe in Ghana and that there is no love lost between us and those who consider themselves as the majority tribe.

29.
During the transition from the PNDC government to the N.D.C government under the 1992 Constitution, we started hearing across the country, very tribalistic political slogans like:

"YE gye yEn mman, YE gye yEn nua baa, Akonta bEsi fom."

30.
Naturally, we felt we needed security and would have it under the N.D.C whose flag bearer then was ex-president J.J. Rawlings; only to be disappointed as key Ewes were gradually targeted and "eliminated by the so-called midnight advisors who, having succeeded in putting themselves in influential positions, made sure he never knew the facts on the ground; but only the untruths they peddled to him.

31.
As I said earlier, we Ewes are fully conscious of the fact that we are a minority tribe in Ghana and that there is no love lost between us and some of those who feel they belong to the majority tribe and therefore Ghana belongs to them; the situation became more terrifying when, as earlier pointed out, hostile political slogans like: Ye gye yen mman, Ye gye yen nua baa, Akonta besi f:J m" were emanating from some Regions.

Do I have to remind you of the equally derogatory remark of "Voltarians being "Ghanaians by plebiscite"? Not to mention the earlier infamous and shameful insult of Ewes by the late Victor Owusu, a former Attorney - General and a politician that "Ewes are inward looking".

32.
Aside from all these scenarios, the late Lawyer Obeng Manu, and if my memory serves me well, at the suit of the late Dr. Bilson, a medical practitioner cum politician, actually issued a writ in the High Court, Accra, against Ex-President J.J. Rawlings, a citizen of Volt a Region, that he was not qualified to be president of Ghana because he was not a Ghanaian. The action was of course dismissed.

33.
Lest you regard this letter as a mere Pro-Ewe Propaganda, which you and your mentors are likely to do, I must say that I did not set out to discuss what Volta Region has always meant to the N.D.C. I bring this up as a small example so that we may not add unnecessary conflict in these early days when the N. D. C has come back to power and is expected to be counselled by all who are competent and dedicated to solve the many problems of the good people of Ghana. This is certainly not the time to indulge in any surresptitious undermining which can easily lead to a serious "implosion" in the N.D.C family. Is this too much to ask of a true and dedicated N.D.C member?

34.
The voting pattern in the Region is always mis- interpreted as due to the tribalistic tendencies of the Ewes. As an individual, I do not think ethnicity is inherently bad since the good book teaches us that God made us in his own image.

I therefore hold the view that as Ghanaians, we should emphasise and celebrate our diverse cultures and differences rather than let them divide us. I do not think there is a group which can claim to be the ARYAN tribe with blue blood in this country.

35.
Even in a regime under which Voltarians felt they would be safe, the POWER BROKERS craftily targeted for elimination almost any Voltarian of substance in the then N.D.C government. I will only mention my own case in which a false article, full of venom, about me was planted in the Chronicle with your connivance because your mentors thought I was a threat to their "country man" - Chief Justice I.K. Abban. This article was in the Vol. 5 No. 537 - Wednesday 6th -Thursday 7th August, 1997.

36.
The article started thus: "CHRONICLE Intelligence has picked up a complex plan to replace the wizened old man of Parliament, Mr. Justice Daniel F. Annan, with the man whose cold but comely features and performance has dragged public confidence in the Judiciary to an all time low, Mr. Justice I. K. Abban, the Chief Justice of Ghana".

37.
The said libelous article continued: "But worse still for the people of Ghana, the man whose views on civil liberties and personal freedoms are as anachronistic and retrograde as they are fiendish and dangerous, is on line to be made the Chief Justice Kpegah (SIC). Mr. Justice Kpegah shared the same chambers with the embattled Minister of Justice Dr. Obed Asamoah in Ho and are ideological soul mates."

38.
You put my picture and that of the late Chief Justice I.K. Abban on the front page under the said article. Under the picture of the late Chief Justice I.K.Abban was the following tribute: "Resisting subliminal pressure to bow out".

39.
Under my picture was a dirge; "F.Y. Kpegah as C.J. "Will the last person to leave Ghana please turn off the lights!"

40.
The implication of your story was that I and Dr. Obed Asamoah were involved in a conspiracy with some unknown people in the Castle, possibly Ex- President J.J. Rawlings, the appointing authority then, to remove Justice I.K Abban as Chief Justice.

If there was any FANTE CAUCUS involved in it was in the Castle; the very seat of government. Any Supreme Court judge who knows his constitution cannot resist the president's undoubted power to appoint a C.J. in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of parliament.

41.
When the Chronicle hit the news stands, several people called and they were "unanimous in advising": "Justice Kpegah, ignore Kofi Coomson in dignified silence.

42.
I accepted this advice for the simple reason that the then government had denied the story in a release dated 20th August, 1997. As stated by you in the said story "only the fact of this publication by Yours Truly may scupper the plan". If you did achieve your aim I cannot tell since I knew of no such plan; only God who protects all of us can tell whether your publication scuppered my appointment by Ex-President Rawlings as Chief Justice or not.

43.
I can assure your mentors that they themselves were a campaign issue in the Volta Region. But for the fact of Prof. Mill's acknowledgement countrywide as ASUMDWE HENE coupled with his assurance that he will be president for all Ghanaians which encouraged some of us in pleading with our chiefs to encourage their subjects to turnout and vote massively for N.D.C during the 28th December run-off.

In terms of percentage the Volta Region voted 87% for N. D. C. while the Central Region voted 50% plus. The N.P.P. could not fathom why and adopted a strategy to discredit the votes from the Region by all manner of allegations.

44.
As a result, some of the activists even entertained the insane idea of sending and dumping corpses from Kumasi in the lakes and rivers in the Volta Region as evidence of the atrocities which took place in the Region during the run-off. This high-risk plan was however exploded when it was leaked and exposed by an Accra based F.M. radio station.

45.
Do you know what the fate of N. D. C. would have been but for the courageous leadership, typical of the people of the Asogli state, which Togbe Afede XIV offered the Volta Region House of Chief to protest against the closure of the Eastern boarder during the recent elections, between 300,000 to 400,000 votes ofVoltarians could have been locked - up in Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

46.
True to character, His Excellency President Mills says he will be a President of all Ghanaians. If despite this assurance this faceless group feels they can keep on undermining any Voltarian of substance for no justifiable reason, the World Bank may become NORTHERN ROCK which many of us would not desire.

If your aim is to "scupper" the so-called ambition of Togbe Afede XIV to be appointed the Governor of Bank of Ghana if even he deserves it and His Excellency the President desires it, then God have mercy on N.D.C and your mentors in the future.

47.
Although they say human memory is short, I hope your mentors do vividly recollect when in the 2000 run-off between then Candidate Kufuor and then Vice President Mills, the Volta Region House of Chiefs, certainly out of loyalty and dedication to the N.D.C., sent a delegation to the Central Region House of Chiefs pleading with them to encourage their subjects to vote for their own? If a prominent chief from the Volta Region House of Chiefs has to be shot down by your faceless mentors this, of course, should be unacceptable to the whole House and people of the Region.

48.
Therefore to each of your mentors who may think he or she can always undermine the aspirations of others with out a price, I say "CAVE NE CADAS" This is not the time for undermining of each other for undeserved-attention. The task ahead is too enormous and we cannot fail the people of Ghana. We all need to be focused. "Verbum satis sapient". The loudest voice may not be the strongest in the room; and the most extraordinary things are done by ordinary people.

JUSTICE F.Y. KPEGAH (OFFICER OF THE ORDER OF THE VOLTA) JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT (RTD). PS. I have on good authority that you have regretted having defected to the N.P.P. If this is an attempt at rehabilitation of yourself through your mentors, and the destruction of another is the quid pro quo, know that he who destroys another in order to succeed has destruction waiting at the gate of his success. I demand that you publish this letter in full and unedited; in addition, I reserve the right to circulate it to other press houses and take an advertiser's announcement in the Daily Graphic at my own expense.

Editor's Note:
Although Justice. Kpegah was told Kofi Coomson was rather the publisher of The Chronicle, when the Assistant News Editor of the paper, George Kyei Frimpong, went for a second copy of his rejoinder from his office, after the editorial team, which excludes Mr. Coomson, had resolved to use the libellous rejoinder, Mr. Kpegah again addressed Mr. Coomson as the Editor-In-Chief.