NPP Is Sick (1)

'You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men…If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell'.

–Matthew 5:13,29,30 - The New Adventure Bible

Dr. Asare, the former Chief Psychiatrist of the nation used to say that among his friends, there were some who believed that after taking care of persons with mental problems for so long, they believed that he Dr. Asare himself had acquired some traits of madness. What the friends of Dr. Asare might not have realised was that there is some amount of madness in everybody. Madness is a sickness which afflicts everybody. It manifests itself in many forms. Most of the times the person so afflicted might not even be aware of it. It is matter of degree. When it moves above certain level, then it proves to be opprobrium.

If one should have a video of himself or herself taken unknowingly over a period of say twenty-four hours and shown to him or her that person shall be amazed of the sort of symptoms of madness displayed in body language and the language spoken the video shall depict. Unfortunately, madness is just one form of sickness, albeit the most socially revolting and damaging to the victim. In this country people hardly show any sympathy towards persons afflicted with the highest degree of the symptom of the sickness which results in the victim walking naked with bushy hair and unkempt body in the street. So I was not surprised when Charles Antwi, the man accused of walking into a church with a gun hidden on his body was summarily convicted and jailed ten years in a legally constituted court of law where justice must be seen to be done.

Everything surrounding the case showed symptoms of madness. Only a person with a demented brain will harbour the thoughts of becoming president of the country by killing the sitting the president in a church in plain daylight and in complete view of an entire congregation when the 1992 Republican Constitution clearly states how a dead president shall be replaced. Apart from the fact that such a person would be arrested with immediate effect and alacrity on the church premises if he should be lucky to escape been lynched in this jungle of a place call home where the legal process is very often circumvented and mob rule is the order of the day, the next in line, the vice president would be immediately sworn in, After all it happened about four years back when one incompetency succeeded another incompetency. It does not need a rocket scientist of a judge to decide that such person should be referred to a psychiatrist for close examination for two to four weeks to determine the state of his apparent demented brain before being tried.

In any civilised jurisdiction, a person determined by a competent medical authority to be mentally demented cannot be tried of any criminal offence as Charles Antwi was charged with. In addition, the security service should have been allowed to carry out a very thorough investigation to prepare an iron-clad case against him. Judging at the slow pace of justice in this country, the investigation could have taken not less than six months. As an alleged criminal offender, such a person should have been allowed a legal representation or be offered a state appointed lawyer to defend him and his plea properly taken. Should the accused be found guilty, there is a maximum jail sentence which no judge in his wisdom, enthusiasm, determination to play to the gallery or emotional attachment to the state should have breached.

The discussion on the case in the media, particularly the FM station to say least was most appalling and lacked any intellectual perspective and dominated by partisan interest. As usual, most of the hosts who moderated the discussion in keeping with mediocrity, ignorance and illiteracy displayed their incompetence to the chagrin and exasperation of educated listeners The host very often listened to the views of panel members which proved of interest to them and asked wrong questions which should not be asked when the answers had already been succinctly provided earlier by a discussant. So everything dealing with the case of the State versus Charles Antwi has been clouded in the usual sickness of madness which has beclouded every facet of life in this country, most importantly the political administration and governance of this country.

Persons holding high political offices and appointments in the public service and who are comfortably looked after with the tax payers money turn round to steal the remaining taxes meant for development with gross impunity and get away with these unprecedented gigantic unacceptable fraud and criminal activities. State properties are commandeered and give to companies owned by cronies and family members in government serving at the highest level of authority without any written contractual documents to back them. All of them get away with obvious murder and yet a clearly mentally demented soul is summarily convicted and thrown into jail among persons with better perception of real life. Prison life in this country should be one place of hell.

Never in the annals of this country has so much madness descended on the people and affairs of the state. Within a relatively short period of three and a half years of John Dramani Mahama NDC administration this county has become another Sodom and Gomorrah. John Dramani Mahama NDC administration has proved beyond all reasonable doubt to everybody who still has his or her brains located where the Almighty Allah originally placed it that it is the most incompetent, corrupt, greedy, divisive and hopelessly inept administration this country has ever witnessed. Every aspect of life, be it economic, social, industrial, commercial educational recreational, political, just name it has virtually grounded to a halt. This country has witness one disaster to another each one more serious than the preceding one under this current administration. I have often wondered aloud whether this nation of ours can survive till the end of this year. I can foresee something foreboding happening to this country sooner than later.

There is a local proverb which states that the good God in his wisdom always provides a guide to the blind. We have given to ourselves a form of political dispensation which allow informed persons to change people in charge of political affairs every four years. Sadly enough, that democratic dispensation only works effectively in a society populated by well-informed and knowledgeable patriotic citizens, a society devoid of massive presence of stomach construction contractors and greedy bastards. Unfortunately, our society is of such that any idiot can easily rise to power by exploiting the specially created poverty among the population, ethnic sentiments, political violence and plain subversion of the constitution and above all the expansive madness among the political class which shows itself in uncontrolled greed and unbridled ambition for political power among many of our politicians.

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By Kwame Gyasi