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Ordinary Ghanaians deserve no justice.

By Abdulai Hanan R. Confidence
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version
Opinion

"Come home", a desperate voice commanded on phone. The voice prompted
me that something was wrong. With dispatch, I flew home abandoning my
lectures at school. When I got home, my head grew bigger as I saw a
crowd that could fill the Olympic Bird Nest Stadium in China.

Thousands of questions from archaeology to zoology began crushing in
my head as I shoulder my way through the crowd that circumscribed my
house. Behold a spectacular sight though pathetic: a woman and her
daughter were wailing in tears. I needed not to be told what happened
to them as I closely inspected their battered body. The most
excruciating and throbbing to my heart was the sight of redden,
blood-spotted and swollen eye of my dearest mother. My age mate has
subjected my sister and my mother to this 1st century scientific
practical. They were assaulted.

The case was reported to the Police Station and we were assured that
the long arm of the law will take it course. My mother was warranted
for medical treatment in the hospital whiles we manage my sister with
home nursing because my mother´s medical bills alone rose beyond our
expectations of GH¢150.

The next day, the police took us to the home of the assailant to
effect an arrest in a taxi. We got there and parked the cab and before
we dashed out of the taxi, we were greeted with a protest from throngs
from all directions. I began goose bumping as the angry mob advanced
towards us with war songs and drums - the sight was weirder than
September 11 and ominous as June 4 uprising. Then the assailant's family
rushed out with their squad with a menacing advancement to strike us.
So, we bumped back into the taxi whiles the police were wrestling them
in a way I think was professional. I was convinced strongly that not
even the America Armed Forces could effect the arrest if they had
come. The drama begins.

We went back to the police station (Sakasaka Branch, Tamale) to look
at the next step. No sooner had we arrived than people began trooping
in. It was the "powers" and "booklongs" of the attacker. It was
heartbreaking that merciless and inhuman beating of my mother and my
sister could attract such an empire of bigwigs and "smallwigs".

My hope in the long arm of the law fell flat when the almighty demigod
arrived with his entourage in a booming Land Cruiser. This time it was a
"poliwig", as I observed a sticker on the front driving glass of his
car with the stamp "Ghana MP". He jumped down with his escorts with
display of pomp. He alone walks majestically to the office of the
police CID who was handling the case to begin a "behind closed doors"
negotiation. I could only mourn as I knew Mr. Justice was again going
to be violated. After the 30-minute talk, the police and the MP came
out and exchange contacts and the latter ordered that he should be
called if anything was wrong. He entered his car with his gang and
boomed out of the police station. Case closed! The most powerful person
of Walewale Constituency, Honourable Alidu Iddrisu Zakaria has spoken.
He told us to go to hell in a hand basket!

After the police was shown "where power lies", we were only humiliated
with a sentence from the police: "Go home and settle it". I wonder why
this severe bashings to my family could be made a "foolish case" in
this 21st century with the popular "powers that be". But we had no
option than go home because we were not special Ghanaians.

However, I followed to the assailant home to beg them to leave my
mother and my sister alone but it ended up with fingers criss-crossing
my face. They dared me to even go and bring soldiers. They never
regretted their actions and avowed that they were going to demarcate
boundaries for my family in the vicinity. With courage, I had to put
my athletic prowess to test with a marathon walk away from the scene.

All expenses that we incurred including my mother´s medical bills were
not defrayed or compensated, and that alone was not enough for our
assailants to feel remorseful of their conduct but still harass my
family because they have an MP. We can no longer enjoy the 1992
Constitutional right of freedom of movement. I feel like taking the
law into my hands and reciprocate that attack, but one thing that
keeps hitting my mind is that "I have no MP; I have no bigwigs".

It is a very big shame if the lawmakers (MPs) help and protect people
who break the very laws they made as evident in our case. But as the
good President J. E. A. Mills said, "The wheels of justice move slowly
but it shall surely get to its destination". I know for sure that my
family will have justice on this matter, at least from God. When the
seed of discord is sown and nurtured, it will certainly germinate. The
assailant family has sown it and the MP has nurtured it. It fruit
shall be bitter.

It is an open secret that we are not only the victims of
denied-justice on the corridors of political intercession. The laws of
the land seem very useless and inapplicable in the realms of politics.
What a shame! Who are politicians? Gods of Livelihood!? If they make
laws and policies, so what! A politician is a vampire that sucks the
blood of the cripples who cannot run for their dear lives, (there are
few exceptions to the definition). I cannot decipher employees being
stubborn before their employers. Politicians are employed and paid by
citizenry. It must be made known to them repeatedly.

I am not quite perturbed about the issue because our plight is a tip
of an iceberg. There are people who have killed or help to kill yet
they walk freely with pride and impunity. The professed laws even look
at them with fear. So, how will importance be attached to severe
boxing of a poor woman and her daughter? Lawlessness is the order of
the day. The weak is in trouble!

Power, Money and Education are now the prerequisites for justice. You
can go to hell with your Mountain Everest Truth. I got this impression
from the MP who legitimately denied us justice. I can only envisage
Ghana as a jungle if truth is allowed to suffer in the hands of Power,
Money and Education.

If I was a lawyer, the assailant family would have witnessed a real
"Clash of the Titans". I would have read Law if it was not the big
man´s child preserve in Ghana (Who will help me to read this Law?). I
feel totally useless before my mother because no matter how useless
one´s mother, this matter certainly will have no burial permit in
one´s heart.

As I aspire to become a special Ghanaian (politician) one day, I can
only console my mother and family that I will seek them justice come
what may.

For now, justice is for power!

Credit: Abdulai Hanan R. Confidence
confidencegh@gmail.com
NTC, Tamale
TEIN (P.R.O.)

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