A Parallel Justice System

‘’During the formative eon of my academic personality, I had the penchant to accept every information read as spotless and an unchallengeable truth, until I read from another scientific journal on psychology that no research actually proves a hypothesis, and that everything we read and hear are figments of the writers mental exercises intended to gratify their own idiosyncrasies and ignorance or at best auto-biologyically articulate their being. Now, once these sentiments are put into writings, they sort of become authoritative information gaining the qualification to be exchanged as wholesome consumable facts. Even so, when these assumed facts are exchanged and shared within the cults of academia without a counter thesis they are certified by convention and become undisputable. In the face of the forces assembled and supervised by hardcore intellectual gatekeepers in a bid to maintain a theory even against a reasonable and viable opposition, the slyness and fictions embedded in them are inevitably exposed when tested at the court of reality’’

‘’To every profound thesis there is a profound antithesis’’ Anonymous

As a young and upcoming student with a high level of motivation to learn and acquire knowledge while at the same time exhibiting exuberant intellectual naivety, I have suffered a great deal of indoctrinatory abuse in so many areas including apprehending the causes of terrorism within the context of international, regional and national politics. That old academically concocted, maintained and guarded explanation popularly espoused to explain the causes of terrorism as being religious within the have been discredited hugely in the face of overwhelming circumstantial or if you like empirical evidences across the globe.

In fact in a study conducted by Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago, who specialises in international security affairs with focus on security policy and suicide, studied every known cases of terrorism and revealed that religion accounts for an infinitesimal amount of the causes of terrorism. After meticulously studying 315 cases, he came to the conclusion that ‘’ there is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism or any of the World religions’’ according to him the taproot of terrorism are about nationalism, about land, about poverty; it is about politics, it is about social injustice and entrenched corruption, not about faith, faith is just a tool for cover.

Other renowned scholars have offered their intellectual widow’s mite to the arduous task of investigating the psychology and sociology of terrorism in an attempt to explain why they engage in the act. O’Neil (2002) cites a number of conditions accountable for the growth and development of terrorism of which poverty, demographic factors, social inequality and exclusion, dispossession and political grievances, denial of justice, institutionalised corruption and graft system as the manure that sprouts and nurture social upheavals. According to O’Neil, these factors can be direct or permissive. The idea suggests that human insecurity largely comprehended, provides the enabling conditions for terrorism to flourish.

The Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism (a religious based organization) has condemned without equivocation the unfair juxtaposition of terrorism and Islamic religion. From the few aforementioned factors contributing to terrorism and a plethora of evidences abound in the literature, it is therefore, indisputably clear that any attempt to link terrorism with religion is mischievous and unfair calculation. Such linkage only seeks to undercut the reality and provide perpetuators with a thick smokescreen to act under the charade of a divine responsibility.

What is terrorism? And what does it fundamentally seek to address?

Terrorism according to the Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism is ‘’any act or threat of violence, whatever its motives or purpose, that occurs in the advancement of an individual or collective criminal agenda and seeking to sow panic among people, causing fear by undermining the government’’ The United Nation defines terrorism as ‘’ All criminal acts against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or group of persons or the general public’’. According to the ratified definition by members of the European Union, terrorism is defined as ‘’any act causing death or grievous bodily harm or loss of freedom to a head of State, persons exercising the prerogative of the head of State, the hereditary or designated successors to the head of State, the spouse of such persons, or persons charged with public functions or holding public positions when the act is directed against them in their public capacity.

The European Union’s definition broadly encompasses a wide array of persons of unsuspected categories who do not necessarily have to occupy public position to be a target of a so-called terrorist in their enterprises. Labelling the opposers of a criminal status quo as criminals without grappling to understand the underlying cause of their actions amount to a lazy act of resting content with a superficial analysis, such dishonesty gives room for one party of the conflict to be at ease and the other uncomfortable, such extrapolation is tantamount to legalising one side of a criminal coin.

Satisfied with almost all the claims adduced by scholars and psychologists to back the activities of terrorists such as; those previously highlighted, which of course are evident in the realm of international, regional and national politics, I can confidently state that the act of terrorism does not occur for the fan of it, but to address deep social and political canker entrenched and in most cases supervised by the LEVIATHAN who wields all state powers. In 2016, an off-duty Turkish police officer assassinated a Russian ambassador to Turkey while addressing an art exhibition in Ankara in protest against Russian backing of military brutality in Allepo, Syria, after numerous failed attempts to diplomatically persuade Russia to back down and evacuate her soldiers from Syria.

A Gulf War veteran, Timothy McVeigh sought to revenge against the federal government for their culpability in numerous cases of state sponsored human atrocities including the 1993 Waco siege, the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident and particularly, US foreign policy in the Middle East. Mr McVeigh hoped to instigate a revolution against the federal government, and sought to defend the bombing of the Alfred Murray building in Oklahoma as legitimate tactic against what he described as tyrannical government.

Even in countries such as; our neighbouring country Nigeria; where certain religious fundamentalists seek to take advantage of a lacuna in the federal constitution to establish a caliphate; their objective is inspired by fruitless attempt to cure the social ills and alienation on religious grounds. They are fully convinced that the political and social orders are grounded on perceived or real State motivated injustices.

One factor is prevalent in all the studies on the causes of terrorism; social injustice and aggravated political grievances. When all legitimate avenues for addressing grievances are exhaustively futile, the last recourse is the use of terrorism to register their displeasure and disenchantment in the system. In conclusion, to pontificate that terrorism occurs in the name of religion by fundamentalists who have paradise on their minds is not only shallow but a half-baked espousal. Such conclusions are a monumental deception of reality and an attempt to play the ostrich, rather than approaching the issue root, stem and branch. One must against all inclinations, reject flatly the feeble intellectual explanation for the root cause of terrorism.

What is a curse and what does it seek to address

A curse is defined as an imprecation or prayer that harm may befall someone, in other words a curse can be interpreted as the cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune, that which brings evil or severe affliction or torment to someone. To place a curse on someone is to invoke a divine or supernatural power to send injury upon someone. Abreast of the intention of curses, the follow up question would be, what does a curse seek to achieve?

With the little knowledge I have acquired as a royal, I know the reason for a curse is to exact revenge for evil done to someone by either a known or unknown suspect, in some cases curses are used by the invoker to acquit himself from blame. However, the main motive behind resorting to curse by any individual is when the person has lost utter hope in the human justice system, satisfied by the fact that these gods and deities are perfect and unbiased and will therefore bring justice to bear.

While the practice of invocation of deities have been a reserved of the traditional setup, where the gods and deities function effectively and efficiently without fear or favour to bring finality to intractable and sometimes protracted conflicts or to settle unwarranted suspicion, the act has crept stealthily and assumed centre stage of our modern politics. Although, the practice, due to its excruciating deadly effect on the culprit has been abominated, people, disenchanted, disappointed and disgruntled in the old traditional justice system resort to it. The fundamental and undisputed reason for the practice assuming prominence in the current politics of the country is explicable by the exactitude of the same reason adduced by people who reluctantly applied it in the traditional settings.

Does the practice of cursing have a place in our body politics?

The practice has gradually permeated every aspect of our politics and particularly, election-related matters, from petty party electoral misunderstandings to national electoral misgivings. One good thing about the practice is that there is no State law criminalising it and so it has no retributive place in our jurisprudence or justice system. Furthermore, it does not always cost the individual any money or expensive resources to pronounce incantations against a foe. Aside, its immediateness in bringing finality to a dispute, it prevents all psychological unsettlements to be caused by events such as bureaucratic procedural hurdles, painful and suspicious adjournments of court cases, and above all the trepidation and anxiety surrounding a possible miscarriage of justice, travesty of justice or designed misjudgement are avoided certainly. Pseudo legal gobbledygook and pontifical hooey flying in discord above their unlettered legal mental sky in the court rooms are spared them.

The avoidable odyssey through an inundated bureaucratic path punctuated with corruption and victimisation delays the delivery of justice. In intra or inter party politics, the commonest phenomenon is that while a petition is made to the appropriate quarters for redress events that occasioned the petition goes on unabated. The deliberate attempt to yank helpless people from competitions and the denial of possibilities and privileges in favour of another could account for the barrage of curses witnessed in our recent political history. As far as I can recollect, the act of calling for the intervention of deities in our modern politics dates back to the years of former President Kuffour, when a certain Dr Asem Fofro dared the president on a public podium to clear himself of corruption allegations in the name of a deity of the President’s own choice. The late former President Jerry John Rawlings have claimed that certain government officials be taken to ‘’Atoa Nyamaa’’ to determine a political crime.

While these are not isolated cases the most classical of them that hit the major headlines in both the print and electronic media was the one embarked upon by the current Bono regional chairman of the NPP, Kwame Bafo Abronye, who in the most primitive and atavistic fashion, slaughtered sheep and poured schnapps in invoking the intervention of gods against election rig by the electoral commission and its officials of varying responsibilities. Since then, the theatre of our body politics has become the epicentre of curses. In the just ended primaries, we read and heard of episodes of series of curses occurring in both the National Democratic Congress and in the New Patriotic Party by persons disgruntled with the mode of selection of Parliamentary Candidates to represent the parties in the general elections that took place on the 7^th of December, with about 99% of the events happening in the NPP. To add insult to a bleeding injury, the National Executive Council issued a letter revoking their membership in the party ignominiously.

Prior to the voters registration exercises, political party fundamentalists cascaded avalanche of curses on individuals who play roles in any scheme to defraud the process including those who bus people from other constituency to register in their constituencies, and it was a nationwide exhibition, averagely all regions reported a case. In the heat to the general presidential and parliamentary elections the practice dominated the nation’s silver screen; after the general parliamentary and presidential elections till this time, the practices have even been more and worst due to the height of suspicion of malpractices and blemishes that characterised the elections. I have personally witnessed one event of election related cursing most astonishing and flamboyant in nature, characterised by deep sense of urgency with a voice depicting deep sorrow and sadness where the pronouncer used wildly melodramatic terms, featuring scenes of thunder and blood as its stock in trade. The pronouncer was meticulous, serious and detailed without mincing words as he suspected persons who even in an unnoticeable way aided the flawed election, irrespective of the individual’s political affiliation or official position.

Is the practice famous and effective?

The underlying motivational factor for these incessant reckless cursing is the overwhelming need to exact revenge from the courts of infallible deities in the face of bitter disenchantment and dissipated confidence in the human institutions. The underlying motivational factor for the spate of terroristic activities is the pressing need to exact vengeance through unorthodox and unconventional means when almost all quarters of redress have either proven to be ineffective, part of or unwilling to deal with the problem they seek to address. Imbedded in the motivations is lack of confidence and trust in the state institutions to bring justice to the underprivileged.

I hope no one will be deluded by the scientific nonsense that says that the gods are ineffectual, superstition is nonsensical and obsolete, and that every death or misfortune can be offered clinical autopsical explanation. In 2^nd Timothy 4:14, when Apostle Paul was convinced of the corruptibility of the State’s institutions he has referred Alexander the coppersmith to God for punishment for all the misery he put him through. Autopsy report will not recognize or may not even identify the role of god or deity in a death, yes, I agree, however, such official protocol has the tendencies to discredit the potency of a curse in the sight of the public. Although, the curser finds satisfaction and attributes particular misfortune to the response from his god, could encourage the application of radical rapid response in whatever manner it may take.

Is the practice prequel to Terrorism?

Cybercrime or what is popularly known as 419 in Ghana is definitely fallout of regional integration, kidnapping was not a known criminality in the Ghanaian social and political spectrum until Nigerians began flooding the country. The idea of the use of terrorism to ‘’cleanse the Aegean Stable’’ in the region do radiate from one country to another. One undesirable effects of globalisation is the transfer of dangerous knowledge and technical knowhow. The internet provides a continuum of knowledge abound for the seeker. When people can no longer wait for the retribution to be served their enemies even in the hands of their trusted deities, they will turn to a rather quick and instant means, dealing with any autopsical disregard.

In the midst of abject poverty, deprivation and ignorance for the majority while the few swim in affluence, terrorists organizations see the presence of these situations as best opportunity to recruit and train prospective terrorists. The current imbalances, extreme inequalities, injustices and high level of corruption render the country a safe haven for recruiting victims of the status quo and turning them into hardened deeply indoctrinated terrorists under the pretext of fulfilling their religious duty of fighting for the weak, for such is a response to a religious call to duty.

In conclusion, we must recognize the peculiar cultural dynamics we found ourselves before we commit an error of applying science to everything in the country, the cause of the incalculable amount of curse in the country must be looked into, as it may be a symptomatic of a sick society. Lack of statistical facts on deaths consequent to curses must not take for granted the role of curses in the numerous calamities that befall people. There is clear correlation between the motives behind terrorism and curses. The disinterment of a Stone Age means of demanding justice is a clear indication of State institutions with eroded confidence and an anaemic integrity.

Like the transition of a child to adulthood, by convention, we say it happened on the day of his 18^th birthday, yet we know it is a gradual process or the maturity of a mahogany tree, it does not happen overnight, it is almost always unnoticeable. It has been reiterated time and again that justice must not only be served but must be seen to be served. We have again learned from a famous US justice that justice delayed is justice denied.

Rather than reading partisan influence in every issue within the public domain and discarding as politically motivated, we must endeavour to recognize the cause rather than the effects of events. We must extricate ourselves from the old social science research methodologies of concluding based on offshore norms and beliefs and engage in anthropological and psycho-social investigations into the narratives of the people, as we are dealing with people with entirely distinctive cultural background and historical antecedents.

As quizzed earlier, why would people with instincts, disregard institutions and resort to terrorism in addressing their grievances? Why would rational people abandon the human legal justice system and muster hope in the gods and deities? Why would people with humanistic feelings lynch another human while they die in horrible pain? Why would all these happen in the presence of existing institutions established for mediation and dispensation of justice? These four rhetorical questions should hover around our minds as we soberly observe the current happenings in the country.

‘’For respectable institutions like these, ill fame is worse than death’’

Written by Alfred Aboagye

A Social Justice Warrior (SJW)

Phone N# 0249913613